Life insurance premiums fell 3% to $37.5 billion during the 12 months ending June, according to research house Plan For Life.

This compares to a fall of 22% during the 12 months ending June 2009, with total inflows of $38.6 billion.

A number of insurers – including Challenger Life, Tower and Macquarie Life – reported double-digit growth in inflows.

Challenger inflows were up 83% to $902 million while Tower reported inflow growth of 33.1% to $1.1 billion. Macquarie Life inflows were up 32% to $690 million.

The largest inflow decline was reported by Clearview, down 21.6% to $381 million, and Suncorp, down 16.5% to $1.1 billion.

AMP recorded a fall in income premiums of 15.8% although it still dominates the market with $11.4 billion of premium inflows.

The risk insurance market, which includes income protection, reported premiums inflow growth of 12.2% during the 12 months ending June.

Tower reported premiums inflow growth of 40.5% to $1 billion while AIA was up 18.2% to $774 million.

AMP, NAB and ING also reported double-digit growth, up 15.9%, 12.7% and 11.1% respectively.

NAB still dominates inflows with $1.3 billion of premiums with CommInsure following with $1.1 billion.