Bank of Ireland Life sees 80% sales increase

Bank of Ireland Life has recorded an 80 per cent jump in sales of its lump-sum investment products in the first nine months of 2006 compared to the same period last year.

Overall new business sales at the life assurance company have grown by 29 per cent to €295.7 million compared to the first nine months of 2005. Single premium business rose by 65 per cent while regular premium business increased by 8 per cent.

The company said it was pleased that half the holders of equity-based Special Savings Incentive Accounts (SSIAs) were continuing to save and keep their lump sums invested after their accounts had matured. With equity SSIAs currently outperforming deposit-based SSIAs, Bank of Ireland Life said that it had seen an increase in consumer confidence in relation to investment products in general.

Sales of pensions are up 10 per cent in regular premium business and 25 per cent in single premium business and the bank said it expected a surge in pensions sales by the end of the year as a result of the pay-and-file tax deadlines for self-assessed taxpayers.

The industry is in the middle of its annual marketing drive to encourage self-employed people to reduce their tax bills by using the tax relief available on pension contributions.

Brian Forrester, managing director of Bank of Ireland Life, said that the popularity of its Evergreen Fund had helped to boost its lump-sum investment sales. The fund, which has a strong property holding, has a good reputation in the investment industry and the capital-guaranteed version is one of the biggest sellers.

The typical lump-sum investor at the company is 55 years old, male and makes an investment of €66,000. But Mr Forrester said he expected that the company's customer base would become younger and more evenly split between men and women as the bulk of SSIAs matured next year.

About 50 per cent of the 1.1 million SSIAs taken out by Irish consumers do not mature until April 2007.