Canada Life's Irish operation have reported sales of over €128 million for 2001, an increase of 39 per cent on the year.
According to figures, which were released today, there was strong growth in the pensions area, with annual premium sales rising 39 per cent to €42m and single premium sales in Ireland rose 29 per cent to €155m.
The introduction of the government's special savings helped to double annual premium sales of savings and investment products to €49.8m. However, single premium investments were lower at €182m.
Commenting on the results Tom Barry, chief executive of Canada Life Ireland said, "Canada Life has now had five years of successive growth. The level of new growth in 2001 firmly establishes our position as the fastest growing major life assurance company in the Irish market.
"We have earmarked pensions as a key area for growth and our performance this year emphasises this. We are investing almost €10 million in the continuing development of the pensions area".
Canada Life currently has more than 200,000 policy-holders in the Irish market and approximately 50,000 shareholders.