Asteron Life, a division of Suncorp New Zealand, delivered an after tax profit of $40 million for the year to 30 June 2020 – down $4 million on its 2019 figure. The company has provided more than $3 million in Covid-19-related premium waivers that customers do not need to pay.
Meanwhile, Suncorp NZ announced an after tax profit of $259 million for the same period, down slightly on its 2019 result of $261 million.
Suncorp NZ says the lower overall profit was due in part to higher life insurance and natural hazard claims as well as the cost of its $30 million Covid-19 customer support package – which included rebates and discounts for customers experiencing financial hardship.
Further impacting Suncorp NZ’s result were lower investment returns, customer remediation provisions, and costs relating to meeting the new IFRS17 accounting standard.
On the upside, the company says there were fewer policy cancellations and in-force premiums grew by 3.7%, supported by CPI and age-indexed premium growth.
In a full-year result presentation ASX-listed Suncorp Group CEO Steve Johnson said its New Zealand business continues to stand out with premium growth above expectations and stable loss ratios.
“The New Zealand Life result was modestly lower primarily due to adverse claims experience and lower investment returns,” he said.
“In New Zealand, our transformation program is well underway. We are well advanced with a business-wide program of automation, digitisation and end-to-end process improvement.
“Operating expenses increased with higher commissions as a function of premium growth and an increase in technology and project costs.”
Suncorp Group’s full-year profit was AU$913 million.