British insurer Standard Life's sales fell 25 per cent in the first half as weak stock markets and low interest rates hit consumer demand for savings products, the firm said today.
Worldwide new business sales slumped by 25 per cent to £691 million sterling in the six months to May 15th on an annual premium equivalent basis - an industry standard measure that smoothes out the impact of one-off premiums.
Standard Life provides a Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs), among other products, to the Irish market.
Total pension sales fell 30 per cent to £334 million in the period but the group clung on to a 10.9 per cent share of the British life and pensions market.
Standard Life, Britain's largest mutually owned life insurer, also announced a cut in final bonus rates for customers holding their with-profits savings policies life and pension products. It cut final bonus payments at maturity and retirement by an average of 6 per cent.
With-profits policies pay out more to customers when the value of the stocks, bonds and cash that premiums are invested in rises. They have had a bad press in recent years as crashing stock markets have bitten into payouts from all insurers.
Standard Life said it continues to believe that equity markets will recover during the next few years.