Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s (CBA) insurance division has ridden a wave of profitability in the first half of the 2010 financial year.

Lowered claims and a 4% increase in received premiums have netted CommInsure $228 million in net profit after tax six months into the new financial year, more than triple the result from the previous corresponding period.

CommInsure’s performance lifted wealth management division’s net profit after tax by 112% to $379 million for the half year.

The insurer has so far received more than $1.5 billion in total premiums this financial year.

CBA – which posted an interim net profit after tax of $2.914 billion –described CommInsure as having achieved “solid growth”.

CommInsure now provides roughly 5% of CBA’s total operating income of $9.5 billion.