LIFE INSURER Standard Life said new business sales of pensions and investments in Ireland fell 46 per cent to £157 million (€198 million) in the first half of the year due to the volatile property and equity markets.

The company said that as much as 80 per cent of its Irish business was in single premium lump sum investments and that industry figures had shown a fall of more than 44 per cent in single premium sales and a fall of 23 per cent in overall life and pensions sales.

The Irish business recorded a loss of £2 million in the six months from the break-even position for the same period last year based on IFRS accounting rules. The loss was "mainly driven by a reduction in charges" earned in the first half of this year "resulting from lower funds under management".

New business profitability in Ireland showed "significant deterioration", with returns falling to 7 per cent from 11 per cent.

Brendan Barr, head of marketing at Standard Life Ireland, said the market had been "very difficult generally" and that falling consumer confidence and declining stock and property values has encouraged consumers to keep money on deposit.

The insurer does not sell protection products and its concentration on pension and investment sales meant that it was "more sensitive" to the declines in equity and property markets, Mr Barr said.

He said investors had become more conservative and were "not taking long-term investment decisions they had taken 12 months ago".

However, he said there was greater interest in deposits packaged within pension products.

Standard Life, which makes more than 75 per cent of its profits in the UK, posted a 51 per cent rise in first-half profit, boosted by a £119 million one-off gain from a reinsurance deal. The gain brought overall operating profit, on an embedded value basis, to £534 million. The company increased its interim dividend by 7 per cent to 4.07 pence a share.