The ABS has updated the sources and uses of these within the measurement of international trade in non-life insurance, with revisions reflected from 1994-95. The sources and methods have not been changed since the implementation of the Balance of Payment and International Investment Position Manual, Sixth Edition (BPM6) in 2009.
Key improvements in the measurement focused on the following to improve known measurement gaps:
- Reflecting changes in Australian Accounting Standards (AASB).
- Incorporating new data sources from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), including data from foreign insurers permitted to carry out business in Australia.
- Updating the precision of inputs to the models used in the insurance calculations.
As an outcome from these improvements, imports of insurance and pensions services have been revised up $116.3 billion cumulatively across 1994-95 and 2025-26 in current prices, while exports of insurance and pension services have been revised up $0.5 billion cumulatively across this same period.
Non-life insurance is a form of risk management, where insurers agree to compensate the policyholder in the event of certain loss (through the payment of claims), damage or injury in exchange for a fee (premium). Insurance companies have to manage the reserves set aside for these purposes and typically invest these and earn interest on the unearned premiums. Imports and exports of non-life insurance represent the risk management service they provide, rather than the premiums received or claims paid which are classified as secondary income flows. No explicit charge exists for the insurance service being provided, and instead it must be derived.
Estimates for international trade in non-life insurance are predominately compiled using data from APRA. APRA has primary responsibility for collecting insurance data in Australia and provide quarterly and annual data items used in the National and International accounts. This includes data on foreign insurance businesses that are permitted to carry out insurance business in Australia. The concepts underpinning the APRA data are generally consistent with conceptual principles in the BPM6 and the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA 2008).
APRA data provides a comprehensive view of insurance activity within Australia, and modelling techniques are used to estimate the value of these transactions that relate to non-resident counterparties.
Revisions to international non-life insurance estimates will be visible in the current and financial account, as outlined in Table 1.
| Current Account | Financial Account | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Goods and Services Account | Primary Income | Secondary Income | Other Investment |
| Imports and exports of Insurance services | Investment income attributable to policyholders in insurance | Non-life insurance premiums and claims | Foreign assets and liabilities in insurance |
These revisions are firstly being introduced to the Annual National Accounts and Supply Use Tables, and will be visible in total imports and exports of goods and services, and primary and secondary income flows within the current account.
A quarterly breakdown of the improved estimates will be available on the 1st of December 2026 in the Balance of Payments, and on the 2nd of December 2026 in the Australian National Accounts. Graphs 1 and 2 highlight the revisions to imports and exports of insurance and pension services, which will be visible in the quarterly publication series.
a. Imports (debits) of services are shown with a negative sign. For more information on sign conventions, see the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Methodology.