SALES AT Hibernian Aviva’s life and pensions business plummeted by 38 per cent last year, as stock market volatility, combined with the economic slowdown and property market uncertainty, deterred customers.

According to a statement issued yesterday by its parent company, UK insurance giant Aviva, sales of Hibernian Aviva’s life and pension products fell by 27 per cent, or 38 per cent in euro terms, from £1.78 billion in 2007 to £1.29 billion last year.

Demand for the Irish operation’s unit-linked products fell across both its retail and bancassurance channels, it said.

Hibernian Aviva experienced the most pronounced fall in sales out of all Aviva’s European operations, followed by Italy where sales slid by 22 per cent.

Nevertheless, Aviva globally delivered a solid performance last year, with life and pension sales up 11 per cent to £36.28 billion. Its European sales rose 8 per cent to £17 billion, buoyed by the strength of the euro.

“Growth in developing economies such as Asia and central and eastern Europe has offset difficult conditions in more mature markets such as Ireland and Italy,” said Aviva’s chief executive Andrew Moss.

The company’s UK operation enjoyed its highest ever life and pensions sales at £11.9 billion.

This result was underpinned by higher sales through its joint venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland group.

However, the group’s total investment sales fell by 43 per cent to £3.99 billion.

A full update on Aviva’s general insurance businesses will be available when it publishes its full year results on March 5th.

According to a spokeswoman for Hibernian Aviva, more detailed Irish figures will be available at that date.

The company expects the figures to show that its market share has remained broadly in line with the previous year at roughly 17 per cent.

Hibernian Aviva employs more than 2,200 staff in offices in Dublin, Cork and Galway and is outsourcing 450 jobs to a lower cost operation in Bangalore, India by the end of 2010.