The two bank-owned assurance companies had a good year in life assurance in 1996, while Standard Life gained ground in the single premium market. Bank of Ireland's Lifetime and AIB's Ark Life made gains in the life and pensions market. Irish Life retains a dominant share of both the annual premium and single premium markets, although its share of the single premium market fell sharply.

Irish Life's share of the single premium market dropped by seven percentage points last year to 23.37 per cent. Among those to gain market share were Ark Life, which had a 11.82 per cent share, compared to 10.51 per cent in 1995.

Lifetime increased its single premium share by almost 3 percentage points to 6.86 per cent.

However, the bigger gainer in the single premium market was Standard Life, which increased its market share to 10.51 per cent from 3.61 per cent in 1995. In the annual premium market the changes in market share were less marked. Irish Life had 24.8 per cent of the market, down slightly from 26 per cent in 1995. Norwich Union has the second-largest share of the annual premium market, recording a marginal increase to 9.39 per cent, with New Ireland and Standard Life retaining stakes of over 7 per cent. Both the bank assurers gained share in this area.

The life assurance and pensions industry had a buoyant year. Total life and pensions premiums were up to £2.01 billion from £1.66 billion in 1995, while claim payments were down by 3 per cent to £1.25 billion. Mr Kevin Murphy, IIF president, said the upturn for life assurers demonstrated a return in consumer confidence, following a period in the early 1990s when there were "value for money" concerns about savings products. He added that over 5,500 salespeople had taken the Life Insurance Association (LIA) Foundation Course.

"From the end of this year anyone engaged in the sale of life company products will be required to complete a competency test," he said.