Bank of Ireland’s life and pensions arm paid out almost €97 million in protection claims last year, according to new figures published on Thursday.

The total payout by Bank of Ireland Life over the past five years now stands at €480 million, it said.

About 80 per cent of total claimants in 2014 were aged 59 years or under, the figures show.

Last year the bank paid over €64 million to the families of life insurance customers who died, and over €23 million to customers with a serious illness.

The highest payout for life insurance was €1,399,486 while the average payout was €61,704 for men and €48,397 for women, the bank said.

Cancer was by far and away the most common reason for death claims, accounting for 48 per cent of such payouts. It also accounted for 56 per cent of total serious illness claims. Heart illness was the second most common reason for both death and serious illness claims.

In terms of life cover claims, 61 per cent were made onbehalf of males with 46 per cent of claims occuring in the first 10 years of the policy. Men were also responsible for the most serious illness claims, accounting for 59 per cent of all such claims, up 3 per cent on the previous year.

Some 80 per cent of serious illness claims were for people aged 59 or over and the average payout was €65,507 for men and €72,177 for women.

Just over a quarter of income protection claims were for psychiatric conditions, the highest percentage reported. Back and muscular injuries accounted for a further 25 per cent of income protection claims.