Life and pensions group Standard Life has posted a 15% hunch in third quarter sales, revealing the life and pensions sales of 10.5 billion pounds ($17.19 billion) for the nine months to Sept. 30, down from 12.4 billion pounds in the same period last year.

“Standard Life has continued to deliver a reliable underlying performance in the first nine months of the year, despite the challenging market conditions. I am particularly pleased with the strong growth in assets, especially in the third quarter. This should benefit the Group’s profits and cash flow in the years to come and is a testament to our track record, demonstrating the confidence shown in us by our customers”, said Sandy Crombie, an outgoing chief executive.

Censuring the insurer’s decision not to renew bulk investment bond deals, Standard Life sales decline reflected lower financial markets compared with last year, reducing the value of the assets entrusted to the company by new customers.

Assessing the company at about 4.9 billion pounds, the shares of the company rose 7 percent since the start of the year, closing at 219.7 pence on Wednesday. While, the life and pensions new business at Standard Life fell by 23 per cent in the first nine months of this year to £7.3bn, as compared to £9.4bn in the compared to in the same period last year.

Standard Life's finance director David Nish is replacing Sandy Crombie in the New Year. Stated the outgoing chief executive, Sandy Crombie “As announced last week, I am stepping down as group chief executive at the end of December after 43 years at Standard Life. I am delighted to be handing over a business that, having positioned itself well to cope with the financial crisis, is in the right place to benefit from the recovery as and when it comes. Standard Life has a strong balance sheet, attractive products and significant growth opportunities and I wish my successor David Nish every success as he leads the business forward next year”.