Bank of Ireland's life assurance subsidiary, Lifetime, has reported a 55 per cent rise in new business to £81.4 million (€103.4 million) in 1999 on an annual premium equivalent basis.

The company has announced new single premium sales of £261 million last year - an 81 per cent increase on the 1998 result. For the purposes of annual premium equivalent sales, only a fraction of single premium sales are counted.

New regular premium income was also strong, up 45 per cent to £55.3 million. Sales of its protection products grew by 20 per cent to £8.1 million, while regular premium pension sales were also strong at £12.3 million, up 23 per cent.

The greatest overall increase reported was in personal investment plans (PIPs), which grew by 59 per cent to £34.9 million during the 12 months.