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Standard Life is a life assurance, pensions and long-terms savings company in the UK which is owned by Phoenix Group.
In 2006 demutualisation took place and the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange. Standard Life policyholders rush to cash in on flotation The Guardian, 24 September 2006 The company sold Standard Life Bank plc to Barclays in January 2010 Barclays buys Standard Life Bank for £226m Daily Telegraph, 26 October 2009 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. Standard Life takes full control of Threesixty The Scotsman, 15 March 2010 It sold its healthcare division to Discovery Holdings, a South African business, in May 2010 Standard Life sells healthcare division BBC News, 11 May 2010 and went on to buy Focus Solutions Group, a financial software company, for £42m in December 2010. Standard Life buys Focus for £42m BBC News, 7 December 2010
In January 2006, Standard Life were accused of Smear campaign 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 September 2014, Standard Life agreed to sell its Canada operations to The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corporation. Manulife to buy Standard Life's Canadian assets for $3.7 billion. Reuters, 4 September 2014 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, rose by 23% to almost £5.5m.
In February 2015, Standard Life announced it was launching a wholly owned, UK financial advice business. 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.
In March 2017, Standard Life reached an agreement to merge with Aberdeen Asset Management, in an all-share merger, subject to shareholder approval. It was announced that the merged company was to be named Standard Life Aberdeen. This was achieved by Standard Life being renamed Standard Life Aberdeen on 14 August 2017.
In May 2021, Phoenix Group acquired the 'Standard Life' brand and in July 2021 Aberdeen Standard Life Group companies rebranded as ‘abrdn’.
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, 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 around 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.
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