Total risk business up 2.1%

Risk market inflows rose from $15.6 billion to $15.9 billion over the year, Strategic Insight said in a statement.

Individual risk inflows into the lump sum sub-market grew by 3.1 per cent, with most companies reporting at least some increase in business.

“Among the market leaders, BT/Westpac (8.5 per cent) and TAL (7.4 per cent) experienced the highest percentage increases in their inflows, while Zurich jumped 65.6 per cent, largely due to their acquisition of Macquarie Life,” Strategic Insight said.

Individual risk income inflows increased 4.6 per cent over the year, with AIA (15 per cent), TAL (14 per cent) and OnePath (5.8 per cent) among the better performers in percentage terms.

But overall group risk premium inflows were almost unchanged from the previous year. However, among the larger companies, MetLife (10.3 per cent), MLC (7.6 per cent) and AIA (3.9 per cent) recorded well above average percentage increases.

“It should be noted that part of MetLife’s growth was due to being awarded a significant super fund insurance mandate that was previously held by CommInsure,” Strategic Insight said.