Australians are paying more for insurance, with premiums growing almost twice as fast as the price of other goods and services, the nation's biggest insurer says.
Inflation in the insurance industry is hovering at about six per cent or more a year, Suncorp Group's boss told an earnings briefing on Wednesday.
Across the wider economy, the consumer price index rose 3.8 per cent in the year to June 30, the most recent statistics bureau data shows.
"Insurance inflation is different from CPI (economy-wide inflation), and it's running at a different clip," Suncorp chief executive Steve Johnson said.
His comments came barely a day after a corporate watchdog report found consumers were overpaying for insurance and were under-informed on why premiums were ballooning.
Suncorp has acknowledged it could do better, but warned increasing transparency was "not an easy thing".
"Obviously, we'd like to communicate better," Mr Johnson said, adding the company was engaging with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Federal Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino.
"A lot of insurance is very difficult to understand.
"We are ... designing pathways that will allow customers to have more understanding of the inputs into an insurance premium and ... what they can do to reduce the risk and bring the premium down."
Accurately picking inflation was crucial to staying competitive and keeping customers on board.
"I'm not disavowing the concept of affordability," Mr Johnson said.
"(Premiums) have now become a very material part of a household budget, so we are very conscious of that."
The total of all the premiums Suncorp charged in the year to June 30 was $15.42 billion, up 2.7 per cent.
But Suncorp had a disaster-ridden 2025/26, which cost the underwriting giant almost half its bottom-line net profit after it paid out hundreds of millions of dollars more in claims than it bargained for.
The owner of AAMI, GIO and Shannons forked out $10.1 billion in claims in the year, exceeding its natural hazard allowance by more than $254 million.
Its bottom-line net profit nosedived 44 per cent to $1.03 billion, as it announced a $250 million share buyback and a special 10-cent dividend for shareholders.
More than 120,000 claims had arisen from 32 weather events across Australia and New Zealand, including 18 declared natural hazard events, the insurance giant reported.
A battering the region took from hailstones the size of small melons in November was likely one of the costliest the insurer had ever dealt with, it revealed in February.
Suncorp declared a final dividend of 52 cents per share, on top of the special 10-cent dividend, taking the total payout for the year to 79 cents.
The $250 million share buyback will take place in the coming financial year.
Suncorp shares were up about four per cent to $19.29 around lunchtime on Wednesday.
