Australian insurers with overseas operations achieved a total of $18 billion of sales during the 12 months ending June 2010.

According to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, companies with an overseas subsidiary selling to local populations sold $17.7 billion.

The most lucrative market was the UK with $5.4 billion of local sales, followed by the US with $4.7 billion.

New Zealand is still a good market for Australian insurers, with sales of $3.6 billion during the 2010 financial year.

Despite all the predictions of potential growth in China for Australian insurers, penetration into the mainland market was small compared to Hong Kong, where $1.8 billion of sales was achieved compared to $40 million for the mainland.

Export sales of Australian-based insurance products were at $293 million for the year, with the strongest sales in New Zealand ($149 million).

Most export sales overseas were in single-digit figures, except Australian insurers sold $26 million of product to mainland China. Sales to Hong Kong were $2 million.