Commissions remain a significant part of life insurers’ expenses, according to latest industry figures from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

Life insurers paid out almost $4 billion in upfront commissions and trails last year – a similar figure to 2014.

Upfront commissions totalled $1.5 billion, with trails at $2.4 billion.

Increased premium and a drop in benefit payments gave the industry an after-tax profit of $3.1 billion last year, up from $2.4 billion.

Net premium was $58.1 billion, down from $62.3 billion. Policy payments fell to $52.6 billion from $61.2 billion.

The value of policies maturing fell to $459 million from $484 million, and policies surrendered fell to $468 million from $511 million.

The industry again lost money on income protection products last year, with an after-tax loss of $93 million. However, this was a considerable improvement on 2014, when the loss totalled $555 million.

The loss for group income protection also reduced, to $22 million from $46 million.

Individual lump sum after-tax profit dropped to $710 million from $852 million.

Group lump sum enjoyed a dramatic turnaround, with after-tax profits growing to $57 million from $7 million.

Life insurers’ investment income remained static at $12.3 billion.