Singapore - Life insurers here saw slower business in the third quarter this year as sales from new policies for annual premium products fell and the industry returned to more normalised growth.

Total weighted new business premiums - a measure of insurers' performance looking at the new policies brought in - dropped 6 per cent compared with the same period last year to $705.4 million.

The decline was attributed to a fall in annual premium products, which more than offset a rise in single premium products sold over the period, said the Life Insurance Association (LIA) yesterday.

Annual premium products dropped 18 per cent to $446.2 million, while single premium products rose 24 per cent to $259.2 million.

Total weighted new business premiums for the nine months came in at $2.02 billion, a dip of 1 per cent compared with the same period last year.

The decrease was again due to a drag in annual premium products, which fell by 9 per cent to $1.38 billion.

Single premium products, meanwhile, rose by 23 per cent to $640.9 million, of which 14 per cent were CPF-funded policies.

The flat performance was also affected by an absence of a boost in premiums from MediShield-linked policies.

"The spike in premiums due to re-pricing of Integrated Shield Plans conducted from March 2013 over the following 12 months for renewal business has tapered off," the LIA said in a statement.