Standard Life is a life assurance, pensions and long-terms savings company in the UK which is owned by

Phoenix Group Phoenix Group Holdings plc (formerly Pearl Group plc) is a provider of insurance services based in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History The company was founded in 1857 as ...

History

1825–2010

The Standard Life Assurance Company was established in 1825 and was reincorporated as a mutual assurance company in 1925.Standard Life history: One of the first Empire builders
The Scotsman, 2 September 2010 During the 19th century it opened offices in Canada, India, China and,

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. In 2006

demutualisation Demutualization is the process by which a customer-owned mutual organization (''mutual'') or co-operative changes legal form to a joint stock company. It is sometimes called stocking or privatization. As part of the demutualization process, member ...

took place and the company was floated on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

. The company sold Standard Life Bank plc to

Barclays plc Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

in January 2010 and then acquired the remaining 75 per cent stake in Threesixty, a financial advisory support business, that it did not already own for an undisclosed sum in March 2010. It sold its healthcare division to Discovery Holdings, a South African business, in May 2010 and went on to buy Focus Solutions Group, a financial software company, for £42m in December 2010.

2011–2015

In February 2013, the company announced that it had acquired the private client division of Newton Management Limited, a UK wealth management unit of

BNY Mellon The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, commonly known as BNY Mellon, is an American investment banking services holding company headquartered in New York City. BNY Mellon was formed from the merger of The Bank of New York and the Mellon Finan ...

, in a deal worth up to £83.5 million. In March 2014, it was announced that Standard Life was in advanced talks to purchase rival Phoenix Group Holdings'

Ignis Asset Management Ignis Asset Management was an asset management company with head offices in Glasgow and London. In July 2014, Standard Life Investments (Holdings) Limited acquired Ignis, formerly Resolution Asset Management, for £390m. Ignis, which is the Lati ...

for around £400 million. Towards the end of the month, Standard Life completed the acquisition for a fee of £390 million. In September 2014, Standard Life agreed to sell its

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

operations to The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of

Manulife Financial Manulife Financial Corporation (also known as Financière Manuvie in Quebec) is a Canadian multinational insurance company and financial services provider headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company operates in Canada and Asia as "Manulife" an ...

Corporation. It completed this sale on 30 January 2015 for a cash consideration of C$4.0bn. The transaction included a Global Collaboration Agreement where Manulife will seek to distribute Standard Life Investments' funds in Canada, the US and Asia. In a round-up of 2014 business, pre-tax profits rose by 19% to £604m, fee-based revenue during the year grew 14% to 1.43bn, and over 340,000 auto-enrolment customers were added. The pay and bonus of Chief Executive,

David Nish David John Nish (born 26 September 1947) is an English former footballer who played as a defender. Nish's £225,000 transfer from Leicester City to Derby County in 1972 broke the British transfer record.BBC NewsWere you there...when the Rams ...

, rose by 23% to almost £5.5m. In February 2015, Standard Life announced it was launching a wholly owned, UK-wide, financial advice business saying it was "responding to fundamental changes that were driving unprecedented demand for advice from customers". In doing so, it confirmed that it had entered into an agreement with Skipton Building Society to purchase Pearson Jones, a firm of financial advisers and paraplanners, and this acquisition was completed in May 2015 when the name of its new financial advice business was announced as "1825" – a reference to the year Standard Life was founded.

2016–2017

In July 2016, a property investment fund managed by Standard Life Investments froze withdrawals after experiencing liquidity issues. In March 2017, Standard Life reached an agreement to merge with

Aberdeen Asset Management Aberdeen Asset Management was an international investment management group, managing assets for both institutions and private investors from offices around the world. Its head office was in Aberdeen, Scotland. The company was listed on the Lon ...

, in an all-share merger, subject to shareholder approval. It was announced that the merged company was to be named

Standard Life Aberdeen Abrdn plc (stylised as ‘abrdn’, disemvoweling of "Aberdeen"), formerly Standard Life Aberdeen plc, is a United Kingdom-based global investment company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a ...

. This was achieved by Standard Life being renamed Standard Life Aberdeen on 14 August 2017.

2018 - 2021

In 2018,

Holdings plc acquired Standard Life from Standard Life Aberdeen plc for £2.9 billion. In May 2021, Phoenix Group acquired the 'Standard Life' brand and in July 2021 Aberdeen Standard Life Group companies rebranded as ‘abrdn’.

Controversy

In January 2006, Standard Life were accused of smearing a policy-holder, Michael Hogan, who was not happy with the way the company was being run. An e-mail sent to Standard Life executives and advisors (which was disclosed under the Data Protection Act) revealed an attempt to discredit him. In January 2007, the head of Standard Life's life and pensions business, Trevor Matthews, used the

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

phrase "

nigger in the woodpile ''Nigger in the woodpile'' or ''nigger in the fence'' is a figure of speech originating in the United States meaning "some fact of considerable importance that is not disclosed—something suspicious or wrong". Commonly used in the late 19th a ...

" while giving a presentation at one of the company's Edinburgh offices. After issuing an apology, Mr Matthews remained in his job and no disciplinary action was taken. In March 2007 the company announced it would cut 1,000 jobs in an attempt to save an additional £100 million per year in costs.Standard Life in bid to axe 1,000 jobs
Evening Times, 23 March 2007 One month later it was highlighted in the company's annual report that three of Standard Life's top executives (

Sandy Crombie Sir Alexander Maxwell "Sandy" Crombie (born 8 February 1949), is a British businessman, chairman of LendingCrowd, chairman of Amiqus Resolution, former chair of Creative Scotland, former non-executive director of Royal Bank of Scotland Group, ...

, Keith Skeoch and Trevor Matthews) were awarded more than £5 million in pay. A Standard Life spokesman defended the awards, citing the leadership's efforts in turning round the company's fortunes. In February 2014, Standard Life announced that it may move parts of their operations outside Scotland in the event of Scottish independence, if it was necessary to do so.

References

External links

{{Authority control Financial services companies established in 1825 1825 establishments in Scotland British companies established in 1825 Companies based in Edinburgh Former mutual insurance companies Insurance companies of Scotland Life insurance companies of the United Kingdom Scottish brands 2018 mergers and acquisitions 2021 mergers and acquisitions