Standard Life UK life and pensions sales up 6% in Q1

The Edinburgh-based insurer attributes the positive result to a 43% increase in savings and investments sales, to £918m – largely driven by investment bond sales, up 22% to £652m. However, Standard Life says it faces a “challenging” period for investment products sales, due to market volatility and the impact of the CGT changes on bonds. While the firm recorded solid investment figures, pension sales were 2% lower than Q1 2007 and gross mortgage lending plummeted 46% to £407m. Individual SIPP sales were 14% lower than the corresponding period last year, down to £1.06bn, but the figure...