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Aug 10 (Reuters) - Australia's biggest life insurer, AMP Ltd AMP.AX , said on Thursday underlying half-yearly profit rose 4 percent, as earnings from its banking and capital arms lifted.
AMP also said it had signed a series of reinsurance agreements covering its troubled AMP Life unit, which would release about A$500 million in capital, subject to regulatory approval.
AMP's underlying profit for the six months to June 30 was A$533 million ($420 million) up from A$513 million a year ago, beating analyst estimates of A$514.5 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Underlying profit seeks to normalise investment market volatility and is used by the company to determine dividend payments.
Interim earnings at investment arm AMP Capital rose about 11 percent, while AMP Bank reported a 10 percent increase in its operating earnings.
AMP's life insurance arm posted an 11 percent increase in earnings for the period. AMP has been overhauling life insurance since a spike in both policy cancellations and payouts, plus a writedown, led the firm to an annual net loss in 2016. life insurers have been in crisis since a joint investigation by Fairfax Media and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation accused them in 2016 of using discredited methods to refuse legitimate claims for insurance payouts.
AMP was not named in the Fairfax/ABC investigation but has said the insurance industry in general has experienced a slowdown in people upgrading or taking out new policies because of negative publicity.
On a statutory basis, AMP reported an interim net profit attributable of A$445 million, down from A$523 million reported last year.
The company's revenue rose to A$7.61 billion from A$6.10 billion a year ago. ($1 = 1.2681 Australian dollars)