Sales of insurance products at Westpac were up 3% to $197 million during the 12 months to September 30.

While the bank’s general insurance business recorded gross written premium for the year of $278 million, the $32 million in profit was 16% lower than the previous year.

Claims were up 28% to $139 million, with the bank attributing the rise mainly to the March storms in Melbourne and Perth.

Life products delivered $99 million in sales during the year. Life insurance sales through the bank’s BT Financial Group arm were up 16%.

The bank reported an 8% increase in life insurance gross written premiums to $405 million with the strongest sales coming through the investment platforms.

Sales through the bank’s lenders mortgage insurance arm also fell 3% during the year, with gross written premiums at $96 million. It reported claims of $26 million with loss ratios of 23%, up from 13% as interest rates rise from the bottom of the cycle.

Westpac has been pushing to improve its insurance cross-selling techniques at St George and during the year these sales were up 43% compared to 30% during the 2009 financial year.

At Westpac’s retail banking operations, insurance cross-sell rates for home and contents were at 70% during the 2010 year, with personal loan protection rates at 47% and credit card protection at 33%. 

Westpac’s life insurance business has a 7.3% market share while general insurance has an 8.2% share.

The bank reported a net profit of $6.3 billion for the 2010 financial year.