A former Canada Life agent is to stand trial accused of theft of approximately €800,000 from investors.

A former Canada Life agent from Limerick is to stand trial accused of theft of approximately €270,000 from the company.

Life insurance and pension company Irish Life has seen a huge surge in earnings in the third quarter of the year as its merger with Canada Life remains on schedule.

TORONTO isn’t your average city. Home to more than 100 nationalities, 140 languages and 250,000 immigrants; diversity is both its cultural currency and way of life.

Irish Life generated earnings of CAD$57m (€38m) in the second quarter of its current financial year, up almost 12% on the preceding quarter.

Irish Life has increased its earnings to €38m in the second quarter of this year.

Cancer remains the main cause of claims for life insurance and serious illness cover, Irish Life says. The life assurance company paid out a total of €168m in claims last year.

An application aimed at preventing the completion of the sale of Irish Life to Canadian firm Great-West, the parent company of Canada Life, for €1.3bn has been dismissed by the Supreme Court.

Limerick GAA officials have appointed world champion athlete John Loftus as their new commercial manager after an alarming €750,000 deficit was revealed at last Wednesday evening’s county board meeting.

The sale of Irish Life had been well flagged but, nonetheless, adds to the positive news flow over recent months. Whether it is a good deal for the Irish taxpayers depends on which way you look at it.

The sale of Irish Life to Canadian insurance giant Great-West Lifeco is expected to result in the loss of some 250 jobs from its enlarged status over the coming 18-24 months.

Irish Life assurance was born in 1939, when the economy turned and put a hole in the balance sheet of Irish assurance companies.

Pensions and life assurance company Irish Life has been sold by the Government for €1.3bn.

Irish Life is to be sold to Canada Life by the Department of Finance for €1.3bn.

THE former Cork City Blacktie store is due for sale, within a week of the Irish suit hire company announcing it was going into liquidation, with closure of 11 shops from tomorrow, after a meeting in the Plaza Hotel, Tallaght.

Permanent TSB Group Holdings board member Piotr Skoczylas has written to the Finance Minister, Michael Noonan, threatening to go to the European Court of Justice to overturn any sale of Irish Life to Canada Life.

Canada Life, a unit of Canadian life insurer Great- West Lifeco, is close to a deal for state-rescued insurer Irish Life, a source familiar with the negotiations said yesterday.

US investment firm JC Flowers&, which was short-listed last year in the shelved sale of Irish Life, is still interested in buying the country’s largest life insurer, an executive at the firm said.

Bankers must have left their federation lunch this week with a bad taste in the mouth after Central Bank regulator Fiona Muldoon lambasted them for failing to adequately deal with the mortgage debt crisis, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

It will take at least another four months of benign market conditions across the eurozone before the divestment process for Irish Life will begin, says group chief executive Kevin Murphy.

A group of investors are to ask the High Court for an order allowing them to redeem their €832,000 loan on lands in Co Tipperary, over which Nama has appointed areceiver.

A High Court action is being brought against the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) after a receiver was appointed over lands in Clonmel, Co Tipperary.

Quitting cigarettes could result in savings of as much as €9,000 on life insurance, according to a price comparison survey by the National Consumer Agency.

The government has confirmed that no buyer has been found yet for Irish Life and Permanent.

THE ISEQ index ended the day slightly better yesterday, up 9.31 points at 2,521.97, in line with European and world bourses.

THE Government may have to pump a further €1 billion-plus into stricken Irish Life & Permanent after failing to sell off its profitable Irish Life assurance arm of the business.

GREAT-West Lifeco, Canada’s second-largest insurer, is the leading candidate to acquire Irish Life & Permanent’s life assurance unit, according to two people familiar with the matter.

THE ISEQ index advanced 16.25 points to 2,604.54 yesterday.

For Annie Predun it was a whirlwind romance. Her new man was warm, funny and made her feel as if she was the only woman in the world. For Sean Whelan she was — until he got $100,000. Michael Clifford unravels the background to the story

Dublin: The Canada Life Group is to create 50 jobs in Ireland.

Fifty new jobs are coming on-stream from a pension and investments company, it was announced today.

CABLE & Wireless has won a €1.5 million three-year contract with the Irish operations of Canada Life Group Services, which will be adding 20 jobs to its Dublin office.

Cable and Wireless has won a €1.5m contract over three years with Canada Life Group Services in Ireland to connect Canada Life’s Irish and European offices using its global IP network.

Equitable Life today said its finances were in a stronger position than at any other point since the debacle that brought it to the brink of collapse six years ago.

THE market for investment products is growing at 30% per year to date, having been fuelled significantly by an increasing demand for guaranteed products.

A 42-year-old insurance agent who defrauded three insurance companies of €2.5m was today sentenced to four years in jail.

CANADA LIFE yesterday came out as a strong supporter for Government proposals to consider an SSIA type incentive to encourage people to start providing for their retirement in a pension plan.

Smokers were today given an added incentive to kick the habit – saving up to €5,000 on life insurance policies.

LIFE and pensions company Canada Life has announced strong sales for the quarter to March.

THE plunge in Elan’s share price has wiped €400 million off the value of Irish pension funds in the first quarter.

Dave Santry, head of investment business at Canada Life, talks to David Clerkin.

PENSIONS and investments firm Canada Life has booked a 45% increase in premium sales in the six months to the end of December 2004.

The CARA Group, a Symantec Elite Solutions Partner, has implemented a Symantec ON iCommand patch management solution in Canada Life.

ALMOST 500,000 Special Savings Incentive Account (SSIA) holders can make a killing over the next 18 months by increasing their monthly contributions to the €254 maximum allowed.