The latest insurance company statistics from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) show just how much reinsurers took a beating from last year’s disasters.

General insurance company statistics for the year to December show reinsurance recoveries picked up more than $15 billion of the $36 billion in gross claims.

APRA gathers the information under company licences, so the data differs from profits reported by parent companies. The statistics also cover company financial years ending at June 30, September 30 and December 31.

For example, Suncorp Insurance reported gross earned premium of $1.15 billion and incurred net claims (after reinsurance) of $652.75 million to list a profit of $345 million for the year to June 30, while its nationally focused sister company Vero reported gross earned premium of $1.27 billion, net claims of $700.3 million and a profit of $613.29 million.

The Suncorp Group’s personal lines subsidiary AAMI earned gross premium of $1.96 billion, incurred net claims of $1.54 billion and earned a profit of $50.79 million.

Australian Alliance earned premium of $560.12 million, had net claims of $388.93 million and made a profit of $4.6 million.

GIO general insurance earned premium of $1.63 billion, incurred claims of $1 billion and had a profit of $104 million recorded.

IAG earned gross premium of $3.26 billion to June 30, incurred net claims of $1.17 billion and made a net profit of $427.44 million.

Its intermediated arm, CGU, recorded gross premium of $1.895 billion, net claims of $1.11 billion and a net profit of $81 million.

Among the insurers to report a loss was Wesfarmers General Insurance, with gross premium of $1.13 billion for the year to June 30, net claims of $633.75 million, and a loss of $16.75 million.

Ansvar reported gross premium of $138 million, net claims of $43.5 million and a net loss of $11.62 million.

Zurich made a loss of $8 million for calendar 2011 on gross premium of $1.16 billion and net claims of $693.88 million.

QBE reports as three entities. QBE Australia earned gross premium of $3.89 billion and incurred net claims of $2.48 billion in the year to December 31, recording a profit of $18.52 million. QBE International recorded gross premium of $352 million, net claims of $102 million and an after tax loss of $7.69 million.

Allianz Australia earned gross premium of $3.12 billion, incurred net claims of $2 billion and had a $256 million profit at December 31.

The Australian arms of major reinsurers managed to recover significant losses from retrocession.

Munich Re earned premium of $914 million for the year to December 31 and incurred claims of $1.95 billion, although it recovered reinsurance of $1.42 billion and made an after-tax profit of $335.8 million.

Swiss Re earned gross premium of $559 million and incurred gross claims of $1.85 billion, but recovered reinsurance of $1.67 billion, recording a profit of $124.24 million for the year to December 31.