Suncorp’s share of the commercial insurance market is primed to grow solidly over the next three years, according to divisional CEO Anthony Day.

The commercial insurance operations of Suncorp increased gross written premium by 4% last financial year to $2.45 billion – a trend which should continue through to 2013, Mr Day says in the company’s annual report to shareholders.

He says Suncorp aims to grow its slice of the commercial insurance market by 3% a year over the next three years, contributing to a 3% underlying margin improvement across the group’s general insurance operations over the next two years.

About 30% of the personal lines market is controlled by Suncorp through the GIO and AAMI brands, while Suncorp also has 9% market share in the intermediated space.

Mr Day says the group “will grow our business with specific focus on the SME business insurance market and insurance brokers”.

“We will take advantage of the group’s scale for such processes as claims, procurement and pricing to reduce costs and improve our profit margin. Most importantly, we will continue to deliver market-leading service for our customers and business partners.”

Suncorp completed a restructure of its commercial insurance business in March.

The report says “less than 2%” of staff positions have been made redundant as a result of its strategy to clarify core insurance functions within the unit.

Group CEO Patrick Snowball says while Suncorp has been through a “period of significant change”, a foundation for “sustainable growth” has been laid as a result.

“Yet we temper that confidence with the knowledge that we cannot be complacent,” Mr Snowball said. “We have much more work to do before we can deliver a truly satisfactory result.”