Australian life insurance premiums for the December quarter last year stood at $9.4 billion, representing an increase of 1.3% on the prior quarter and a 2.7% increase on the 2005 December quarter.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) says premiums for the year to December 31 totalled $39.1 billion, an increase of 7.7% on the previous year.

Policy payments made by life insurers were $9.6 billion for the December quarter, an increase of 0.1% on September quarter and a decrease of 1.8% on the December 2005 quarter.

Policy payments for the year to December 31 were $38.8 billion, an increase of 1.9% on the previous year.

APRA says based on preliminary figures, total life insurance statutory fund assets backing Australian policyholder liabilities were $239.7 billion at the end of December last year, representing an increase of 4.4% over the quarter and an increase of 8.9% since December 2005.

Out of those assets, the amount held in Australia was $208.7 billion at the end of December, an increase of 11% since 2005.