Europe's biggest mutual insurer Standard Life has reported record levels of new business, helped by a surge in sales of pensions.

The Edinburgh-based insurer said sales in the UK of new pensions, life assurance and other investment products soared by 75% last year to �6bn, while overall global new business jumped by 61% to �8.3bn.

The company said the publicity surrounding the introduction of new stakeholder pensions had helped sales of all pension products in the UK.

And Standard Life said its high credit rating meant it was benefiting from a 'flight to security' by savers.

Stakeholder boost

The mutual saw new sales of pensions within the UK leap by 60% to nearly �2bn last year.

Speaking on BBC Radio Five Live, Standard Life's finance director John Hylands said the introduction of stakeholder pensions had helped, even though sales of stakeholders had not taken off themselves.

"Stakeholder growth has been quite slow, but what is interesting is that I think the launch of stakeholders has stimulated interest in pensions in general," he said.

"So there's been strong growth on other parts of the pensions market, and I think that is set to continue."

The insurer also said it had benefited from the recent troubles seen at Equitable Life, both in terms of winning business from previous Equitable customers and from investors looking for a safe home for their money.

Standard Life is one of the few insurance companies in the world to have an AAA credit rating.

"I think that what we're seeing is some business coming directly from Equitable Life," Mr Hylands told the BBC.

"But I think the bigger effect that we're seeing is customers looking for greater security in their savings and coming to Standard Life, a company of unrivalled strength."

Mutual benefits

Standard Life said its mutual status was also an important factor behind its strong results.

"Our mutual status allows us to concentrate solely on the interest of the customer," Mr Hylands said.

"That is reflected in the quality of the customer service and that has had I think a big impact on our sales last year."

Last year Standard Life defeated an attempt by Australian fund manager Fred Woollard to demutualise it and float it on London's stock market.