Edinburgh-based Standard Life, Britain's fourth-biggest insurer by market value, said life and pensions sales for the nine months to September 30 were 10.5 billion pounds, down from 12.4 billion pounds in the same period last year.

Analysts had expected sales of 10.6 billion pounds, according to the average of 10 analyst estimates compiled by the company.

"Standard Life has continued to deliver a reliable underlying performance in the first nine months of the year, despite the challenging market conditions," outgoing chief executive Sandy Crombie said in a statement.

Pensions-focussed Standard Life said the sales decline reflected lower financial markets compared with last year, reducing the value of the assets entrusted to the company by new customers.

Crombie is to be replaced in the new year by David Nish, currently Standard Life's finance director, Standard Life said last week.

Standard Life shares closed at 219.7 pence on Wednesday, having risen 7 percent since the start of the year, valuing the company at about 4.9 billion pounds.

(Reporting by Myles Neligan; editing by Paul Hoskins)