Australian primary insurance giant Suncorp has announced that, while it has not driven any reinsurance recoveries, catastrophe losses across the first half of its financial year eroded the aggregate deductible in several reinsurance treaties, including the aggregate excess of loss treaty.
Total costs from the cat events across Australia and New Zealand were $561 million, $86 million above the allowance for the half and $42 million above the prior year period.
There were a number of cat events during the period, most notably the Queensland/New South Wales election day hail event in October, with a net cost of $195 million.
Elsewhere, the company has stated that COVID-19’s impact was broadly neutral on its 1H21 result, after increased provisions and risk margins for Business Interuption claims were largely offset by reduced claims frequency.
The group’s net profit after tax was $490 million, a drop of 23.7% from the prior year period.
Meanwhile, cash earnings were up 39.5% to $509 million thanks to higher earnings across all businesses segments.
“Over the past year, we have refocused our strategy, continued to implement the ongoing regulatory program of work, improved our customer service, reinvigorated our brands, further digitised our business and become more efficient,” said Suncorp CEO Steve Johnston.
“I am proud of how the Group has delivered on these commitments and been true to our purpose in a challenging year.
