MLC has reported a 47% jump in the gross income of its life insurance business for the 12 months ending September this year.

Income for the year topped $1.48 billion, boosted by the acquisition of Aviva last year.

MLC Group Executive Steve Tucker says the business continues to focus on writing high-quality sustainable life insurance.

“In the past year, MLC Insurance has experienced strong growth in premiums, retaining its number one market share position in individual risk while improving its ranking from fourth to second for group risk sales,” he said.

“A newly launched retention program has reduced lapse rates and the implementation of online technology for group plans has been well received by the market.”

Annual inforce premiums for the retail market were $1.1 billion for the year, an increase of 50%, again boosted by the acquisition of Aviva.

In the group risk market, inforce premiums rose by 28.8% to $284.3 million.

NAB advisers drove the premium inflows, achieving $32 million of sales, while aligned advisers brought in $12 million and independent advisers accounted for $14 million.

However, the acquisition of Aviva has pushed up operating expenses by 23% to $236 million.

Mr Tucker says the integration of Aviva is ahead of schedule and cost synergies are significantly ahead of the acquisition business case.

“Adviser and client retention have outperformed initial forecasts,” he said. “Integration activity is currently focused in combining MLC’s insurance product with Aviva’s service model and online insurance functionality.”

MLC’s parent National Australia Bank has reported a 19.3% jump in after--tax profit to $4.6 billion for the full year ending September. This is despite revenue for the bank dropping 1.6% to $16.6 billion.