The Commonwealth Bank’s insurance arm CommInsure has recorded a 102% increase in new business among general insurance lines after installing 130 insurance specialists across its network.

The bank last week announced a full-year net profit of $4.79 billion.

CommInsure MD Simon Swanson told insuranceNEWS.com.au the insurer is making the most of the bank distribution network.

“The insurance representatives’ role is to train the 5000 frontline banking staff, and those staff then help customers with their needs,” he said. “That’s the biggest reason for our success in sales.”

CommInsure’s decision to underwrite its own motor insurance from November also boosted growth, the insurer claimed.

Those factors pushed new business sales to $113 million, an increase of 102% on the $56 million earned in the year prior.

But CommInsure’s cash net profit – the group’s earnings yardstick – declined 25% even as the insurer banked $253 million.

Declining investment income combined with exposure to weather-related claims to drag down earnings.

“We see ourselves as a personal lines insurer and we’ll put our heads down and deliver good customer service,” Mr Swanson said. “I don’t know if we’ll see quite as strong percentage growth next year but I expect that growth to continue.”

The bank also owns Sovereign Insurance in NZ. The insurance operations contributed $832 million to the total group before-tax operating income of $14.36 billion.

CommInsure-related insurance operations contributed $580 million of that profit while Sovereign contributed $252 million.