Life insurance risk market sees 3.4% inflow rise despite drop in sales

In the year to September 2022, risk premium inflows rose to $17.9 billion from $17.3 billion a year earlier, while overall annual sales fell, according to a report by Plan For Life.

Market leader TAL, which has now incorporated Westpac Life, and number three player Zurich reported annual inflow increases of 6 per cent and 5.8 per cent to $5.9 billion and $2.5 billion, respectively.

Others remained relatively unchanged, with AIA suffering a slight setback of 0.2 per cent to $3.3 billion.

Meanwhile bigger percentage jumps were recorded by medium to smaller players MetLife (20.5 per cent), ClearView (8.6 per cent) and NobleOak (35.2 per cent).

MLC experienced a slight boost of 2.4 per cent to $1.9 billion, while Resolution contracted by 7.4 per cent and QInsure gained 3.5 per cent. 

The group insurance category experienced a 5.2 per cent growth, reaching a total of $6.9 billion. Meanwhile, individual lump sum products for risk coverage increased by 1.3 per cent to reach $7.7 billion, and individual income protection for risk coverage saw a year-on-year increase of 4.8 per cent, reaching a total of $3.2 billion.

Overall annual sales in the risk market fell 8.5 per cent mainly due to reported group risk sales finishing down more than a quarter.

Most leading risk insurers including TAL (-9.3 per cent), Zurich (-8.6 per cent), and MLC (-7.5 per cent) saw their sales decline while by contrast, MetLife (21.1 per cent) was the only company to report a significant jump.