Solid figures for GESB, HBF

Two of the state’s largest investment funds have had reported strong returns on investment for the 2012-13 financial year.

Health insurer HBF reported a 7.6 per cent return on its investment portfolio, while the Government Employees Superannuation Board (GESB) has announced returns of between 14 and 19 per cent over its range of funds.

As a result of this performance, GESB’s portfolio grew to a total $15.89 billion in investments for the 2012-13 financial year.

Its net revenue from investments for the year was $2 billion, compared with $341 million a year earlier. Net inflows totalled $924 million.

Meanwhile, HBF’s 7.6 per cent return on investment was a significant improvement on its 3.7 per cent return achieved for the 2011-12 financial year and was despite a decrease in the amount of funds invested.

A reduction in prepaid premiums from members forced HBF to scale down its investment in financial assets by $72 million.

Investment returns for the year were $92.7 million compared with just $38.1 million for the previous financial year, which helped HBF achieved an operating surplus of $176.7 million.

The health fund paid out benefits of more than $1 billion – an increase on the previous year but down on forecasts, which enabled HBF to keep its premium increases below the average across health insurers.

HBF increased its premiums by an average of 3.75 per cent compared with the insurer average of 5.6 per cent.

HBF has almost 910,000 members, which constitutes a 55 per cent share of the WA market.

The insurer became the parent company to the Friendlies Pharmacies network earlier this year.

Medibank Private and BUPA are the other major health funds in WA, accounting for 30 per cent of the market.