Zurich UK's protection sector led the way as its Life business grew by 6% last year, taking the total value of new premiums (APE) to £501m.
The provider's protection sector saw a 26% increase, while its overall UK Life business earned a £181m profit.
Peter Hamilton, protection management director at Zurich, was pleased with the figures and put the surge down to a variety of factors.
"The market probably had reasonable end of year because consumers are more open to protection market," he said.
"I expect us to have a better year than most others across the whole market. We've been doing much more training of IFAs and so more people will have been made aware of us over the last 12 months. It's been more brokers using us more often," he added.
Michael Brennan, CEO of Zurich UK Life, also noted the improved protection figures.
"Despite the decline in financial markets and declining interest rates, the UK Life business has achieved significant growth in 2009, and in particular we witnessed strong growth in the protection market," he said.
"In line with our global life strategy, we saw the value of our multi distribution approach really make a difference in the market. The IFA sector fared well in 2009 and remains an important part of our core distribution strategy going forwards."
It is the first year that Zurich has released the data publicly.
