Irish Life & Permanent has announced that pension investors in its Secured Performance Fund will receive a guaranteed return on their investment this year of 12.1 per cent gross. The rate will apply to more than £200 million of investments made in the fund in the five years since it was set up.

An estimated £50 million will be invested in the coming year. The growth rates, which are announced each January, are guaranteed to apply to the year in question, and are based on the underlying growth of the company's Consensus Fund.