General insurance intermediaries placed almost $11.5 billion in premium in the six months to June, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) says in a half-yearly update.

They invoiced about $11.6 billion in the December half and $10.4 billion in the corresponding period last year.

About $9.6 billion of the business in the first half of the year was conducted with APRA-authorised general insurers, $1.28 billion with Lloyd’s underwriters and $627 million with unauthorised foreign insurers (UFIs).

The premium placed with UFIs increased by $149 million from a year earlier, due mainly to a rise in fire and industrial special risk (ISR) placements, which made up more than half the deals.

Fire and ISRs accounted for $402 million of the premium placed with UFIs, up from $275 million in the June half last year

Singapore dominated the UFI space, with 53%, or $335 million, of the business made through the southeast Asian financial hub.

The high-value-insured exemption was used to place $465 million or 74% of business, custom exemption $108 million or 17%, atypical exemption $38 million or 6%, and foreign exemption $16 million or 3%.

The number of new or renewed policies placed in the period fell to 5667 from 6805 and the average premium across all exemption types rose to $102,700 from $67,600 a year earlier.

There were 1675 licensed intermediaries during the period.