Life insurance sales continue to grow

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30 January 2012

Life insurance sales have continued to grow, with both inforce annual premiums and new business recording strong results for the 12 months ending September.

According to research house Dexx&r, inforce annual premiums were up 10.92% to $9.6 billion while new premiums grew by 11.05% to $2.2 billion for the year.

Group life insurance premiums were the strong performer during the 12 months with the inforce sector up 13% and new business up 14.99%.

AIA Australia continues to be the market leader in the group life insurance market with a 25% market share of inforce premiums and 31.3% share of new business premiums.

The big winner for group new business sales was Metlife, up 566% during the 12 months ending September. It had new annual premiums of $151 million, lifting its market share from 3.38% in September 2010 to 19.58% a year later.

Metlife’s gain has been at the expense of TAL, CommInsure and OnePath, which all recorded falls in new business premiums, down 52.25%, 1% and 8% respectively.

The combined businesses of AMP and Axa have given it overall market dominance in both annual inforce and new business premiums.

The combined business now holds a 16.52% market share of inforce annual premiums, compared to its nearest rival MLC with 15.18%.

AMP and Axa now hold a 14.28% market share in new annual premiums, with TAL following with a 13.85% share.