The group risk insurance market has produced some baffling figures, according to actuary Simon Solomon.

In the year to March, premium inflows into the group risk market rose 8.5 per cent but overall sales fell 31.9 per cent.

TOWER led the pack with group risk premium inflows up 77.8 per cent, followed by Macquarie up 58.1 per cent, National Australia/MLC up 22.7 per cent, and AMP up 21.3 per cent.

Overall, said Simon Solomon, managing director of Plan For Life actuaries, “group risk sales dropped sharply by almost a third” but much of the apparent fall was due to the “cyclical remarketing nature of this business”.

The cyclicality of group risk was also reflected in the results of individual companies active in this sub-market, Solomon said.

The winners in group sales risk were TOWER (up 245.7 per cent), National Australia/MLC (56.6 per cent) and Macquarie (52.4 per cent).

Less stellar results were posted by AMP (-90.4 per cent), AIA (-78.8 per cent), MetLife Insurance (-50.8 per cent), CommInsure (-40.8 per cent) and ING (-31.3 per cent).

Solomon said “this market is affected by trends in the standalone corporate superannuation market, as well as master funds and other investment platforms extending their services by providing risk insurance services”.