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APRA releases general insurance statistics for March 2021

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) today released its Quarterly General Insurance Performance Statistics and Quarterly General Insurance Institution-level Statistics publications for the March 2021 quarter.

The Quarterly General Insurance Performance Statistics publication provides industry aggregate summaries of financial performance, financial position, capital adequacy and key ratios. The publication also includes detailed statistics at a class-of-business level, a breakdown of operating income and expenses, and more granular solvency information.

Industry reported a net profit after tax of $1.1 billion and return on net assets of 3.9 per cent during the year ended 31 March 2021. The result was driven by natural catastrophe claims costs, provisions for business interruption (BI) claims and falls in investment income.

The industry reported a profit of $19m for the March quarter. Gross incurred claims fell significantly as the effects of the provisioning that was undertaken for BI claims in the December quarter was not repeated in the March quarter. However, this was mostly offset by investment losses on interest bearing investments as a result of an increase in bond yields during the quarter.

The industry PCA coverage ratio slightly increased during the March quarter to 1.71x, up from the December ratio of 1.70x.

Key performance statistics for the general insurance industry in the year ended 31 March:

 

March 2020

March 2021

Change (annual)

Gross claims expense

$42.4bn

$41.5bn

-1.9%

Underwriting result

$1.5bn

$1.6bn

+6.0%

Investment income

$2.0bn

$1.6bn

-20.8%

Net profit after tax

$1.5bn

$1.1bn

-28.3%

Key performance statistics for the general insurance industry in the quarter ended 31 March:

 

December  2020

March       2021

Change (quarterly)

Gross claims expense

$14.7bn

$9.4bn

-36.0%

Underwriting result

-$1.1bn

$657m

 

Investment income

$504m

-$246m

 

Net profit after tax

-$622m

$19m

 

Key ratios for the general insurance industry:

 

March 2020

March 2021

Change (annual)

Change (quarterly)

Net loss ratio

71%

71%

Unchanged

-17 percentage points

Return on net assets

5.6%

3.9%

-1.7 percentage points

+8.9 percentage points

Prescribed capital amount coverage ratio

1.66x

1.71x

+0.05x

+0.01x

The Quarterly General Insurance Institution-level Statistics publication contains individual insurer information about financial performance, financial position, capital adequacy and key ratios. The quarterly performance statistics of insurers may be impacted by factors outside of their control, such as natural catastrophe events, as well as those driven by their internal processes, such as the timing of actuarial valuations. Users should take these factors into account when interpreting the statistics.

Copies of the 31 March 2021 quarterly publications are available on APRA’s website at: Quarterly general insurance statistics.

Media enquiries

Contact APRA Media Unit, on +61 2 9210 3636

All other enquiries

For more information contact APRA on 1300 558 849.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is the prudential regulator of the financial services industry. It oversees banks, mutuals, general insurance and reinsurance companies, life insurance, private health insurers, friendly societies, and most members of the superannuation industry. APRA currently supervises institutions holding around $9 trillion in assets for Australian depositors, policyholders and superannuation fund members.