Tower Australia expects its new group risk account with AustralianSuper, which kicked off yesterday, will offset the departure of Asgard and ANZ mastertrusts early this year, which weighed on premium totals in the September quarter.

Total inforce premiums were up 4.9% at $783.8 million in the three months ended September 30, compared with the corresponding period last year, while new business increased 2% to $69.8 million.

Individual inforce premiums climbed 15.5% to $531.5 million in the quarter, with particularly strong growth in individual lump sum.

Group risk inforce premiums eased 12.1% easing to $252.3 million and group new business slid 17.1% to $27.9 million in the quarter.

Individual new business jumped 20.5% to $42 million, helped along by strong growth in income protection.

MD Jim Minto says the December quarter is shaping up as a “pretty strong one” for group risk, with the initial premium contribution of AustralianSuper of around $100 million and other growth.

He says the company is not giving any guidance on the profit implications of AustralianSuper because set-up costs in the first year are expected to be roughly equivalent to any additional profits.

“In year two it will start to make a contribution but we haven’t said what that sort of number will be yet,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

Tower will report profit results for the year to September 30 late this month.