"We've done a lot to make sure we are well protected against what can happen in the euro zone," she reiterates.

Despite the economic uncertainty, Standard Life's performance in the first nine months of the year has been robust and at the last trading update in November Nish said the company remained "on track to transform the operational and financial performance of the group".

In its third quarter trading statement the company reported group assets under administration of £191.1 billion, down 2.9 percent. But long-term savings new business sales were up 10 percent to £15.5 billion "after broadly maintained sales in the quarter".

"If you look at the numbers we last published ... We had very strong growth in the first half of the year and a little more muted in the third quarter, but when you look at our relative performance versus markets that had slowed down significantly then we are performing strongly," says Hunt.

In its full year trading statement published on 13 March the insurer reported a 28 percent rise in annual operating profit of £544 million, well ahead of forecasts of £476 million. The performance was driven by strong growth in its Canadian business, where profit rose 70 percent. Its shares rose 2.7 percent to 243.9p, spreading a rally of about 16 percent since the beginning of the year.