Record profit for State Insurance

Press, 13 September 1988, Page 16

Record profit for State Insurance

PA Wellington The State Insurance Office made a record pretax operating profit of $69 million and an underwriting surplus of $52 million in the last financial year, its annual report, tabled in Parliament, shows. The underwriting surplus of $52 million compares with $12.2 million the previous year. Another “milestone in the history of the office” was a gross premium income of $369 million — an increase of $l4 million on the year before. Insurance claims last year cost $176 million, or

64 per cent of net earned premium. The net profit for the year of $28.7 million included investment income of $17.6 million. In a statement the Assistant Minister for State-Owned Enterprises, Mr Jeffries, said the record profits were gained through containing costs and working expenses. The report said the absence of any major natural disasters contributed to the containment of claims costs. As well, there was a fall in the number of claims, especially for motor vehicles

possible partly because of a mild winter last year.

The report said “strategic measures” had been introduced to counteract a growing number of fraudulent claims. Another area of concern was staff turnover. Last year 30 per cent of the staff left, an increase of 2 per cent on the preceeding year.

The high turnover had an obvious detrimental effect on service and the personnel available for promotion. Programmes had been developed to help counteract it.