Standard Life bolsters Sterling Fund with £100m

by Gill Montia

Story link: Standard Life bolsters Sterling Fund with £100m

Standard Life has confirmed that it is restoring the value of its Pension Sterling Fund (PSF) with a £100 million injection of cash.

The move will return customers to the positions they held before a recent valuation adjustment.

Last month Standard Life reported that the £2.4 billion PSF had lost just under 5% of its value, or around £1,237 per investor.

The loss pertained to mortgage-backed securities and investors were furious, claiming that they were not aware that the fund held asset-backed securities in addition to deposits in banks and building societies.

The insurer has now accepted that the supporting literature for the PSF was below standard and may not have fully explained the fund’s risk profile.

Standard Life managing director of customer service, John Gill, has apologised to customers who have been affected, many of whom are close to retirement and had chosen the PSF because they understood it was low risk.