GIVING priority to its pension business, the Hibernian insurance group annual premium sales rise 9 per cent in 1996. But the company trailed its rivals in life single premiums because of a decision to stay out of tracker bonds, the firm said yesterday.

New annual premium life and pension sales reached £12.08 million last year, compared to £11.06 million in 1995.

Chief executive Mr Adrian Daly said Hibernian continued to concentrate on pension business, which came in at £7.8 million, up 20 per cent on the previous year.

Life assurance declined slightly to £4.31 million from £4.58 million, he said, while pensions single premium business rose 2 per cent to £17.26 million.

Life single premiums tumbled to £2.28 million, compared to £7.39 million in 1995, reflecting the company's decision not to participate in the tracker bond market, he said.

"We passed up on trackers - there are a lot of entrants to the market and we still have the view that it is a relatively new phenomenon. I'd be concerned that some investors might be disappointed. We know from experience that the public has difficulty coping with the downside of the stock market," Mr Daly said.

Hibernian continued to monitor the tracker bond market, he added, and would not rule out participating in the future.

Quoting a recent ESRI report, Mr Daly said there was considerable under provision for retirement in Ireland and Hibernian saw this an opportunity for further growth.

To help cover more people, he added the Government should revamp the current laws and allow people to transfer their pensions seamlessly between the "employee" and "self employed" categories.