Suncorp is well placed to see off aggressive competition in domestic and commercial lines, according to CEO Patrick Snowball.

He says the full-year profit of $730 million – up 49% – shows the group’s simplification program is working and it has the scale and skills to compete.

“There’s a lot more gas in the tank of this company,” he told a briefing last week.

Asked how much longer he would be behind the wheel, Mr Snowball acknowledged it is an obvious question after five years. But with the group’s strategy starting to deliver benefits, “I want to be around to make sure it does come together”.

The profit came after Suncorp wrote off $496 million of intangibles from Suncorp Life, which pushed profit before writedowns up 53% to $92 million.

Mr Snowball told insuranceNEWS.com.au he believes the life insurance market is at the bottom of the cycle, but “it is going to be pretty tough yards for the next two to three years”.

Suncorp’s gross written premium (GWP) grew 6% to $9.7 billion, while general insurance claims increased 5% to $6.6 billion and life claims and liability movements gained 30% to $1.45 billion. Investment revenue was up 2.5% to $1.58 billion.

General insurance after-tax profit grew 14% to $1.01 billion – up 5% excluding the Victorian fire services levy. GWP gained 3% to $8.87 billion and the underwriting profit increased 13% to $710 million.

Commercial Insurance CEO Anthony Day says aggregation of back-end and customer-facing systems and platforms gives the group a competitive advantage.

GWP in commercial insurance was up 7% to $2.33 billion and net claims grew 6.5% to $5.24 billion. The loss ratio was 67.8%, compared with 67.4% the previous year.

Compulsory third party GWP increased 7% to $1.05 billion. Mr Day says there are more opportunities as governments review their involvement in statutory schemes. Motor GWP was up 3% to $2.83 billion in a highly competitive market.

Mr Snowball told insuranceNEWS.com.au Suncorp has the world’s largest smash repair network and reports high customer satisfaction from its vertical integration.

It has opened a repair shop in Auckland and plans to expand the heavy repair operation to Victoria and Queensland, while growing its spare parts business.

Home insurance GWP gained 6% to $2.44 billion as competitors tried to “cherry-pick” business.

Suncorp Personal Insurance CEO Mark Milliner says his division is holding pricing discipline in the face of aggressive competition and is ready to channel further simplification benefits into pricing and marketing.

New Zealand GWP grew 21% to $1.14 billion, up 7% in local currency.

Mr Snowball says lower reinsurance rates this year mean “hopefully, substantial premium increases are a thing of the past”.

Suncorp Bank turned last year’s loss into a $228 million profit.