Standard Life reports “impressive” sales performance
by Gill Montia
Story link: Standard Life reports “impressive” sales performance
Standard Life has published new business results for 2009 unveiling “an impressive performance in a year of challenging markets”.
In the three months to the end of December, life and pensions net inflows were over three times higher than a year earlier at £1.3 billion (Q4 2008: £0.4 billion).
Furthermore, life and pensions sales of £4.2 billion [...]
Standard Life freezes with-profits bonus rates
by Gill Montia
Story link: Standard Life freezes with-profits bonus rates
Standard Life has frozen bonus rates for over a million unitised and conventional with-profits policyholders.
The life and pensions provider says most customers will still see an increase in their plan values but for the less fortunate, a £200 a month with-profits pension plan taken out in 1990 by a male retiring aged 65 now has [...]
FSA fines Standard Life over Pension Sterling Fund
by Gill Montia
Story link: FSA fines Standard Life over Pension Sterling Fund
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined Standard Life Assurance Limited £2.45 million for serious systems and controls failings that resulted in the production of misleading marketing material for its Pension Sterling Fund (PSF).
The regulator found that between 10th July 2006 and 28th February 2009, the life and pension provider made errors that resulted in [...]
Standard Life announces pair of appointments
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Standard Life announces pair of appointments
Standard Life has today announced its new executive structure and a pair of new senior appointments.
Christian Torkington will become group information and operations director, effective from 1 March of this year.
Torkington, who has joined Standard Life from RSA Insurance Group, will be responsible for formulating and enacting technology strategy.
Sandy Begbie is to be the firm’s [...]
Freezing weather sees water damage claims soar
by David Masters
Story link: Freezing weather sees water damage claims soar
Householders are being warned to keep their homes warm during the current freezing weather or risk having their property flooded by burst water pipes.
Research by Virgin Money found burst water pipes and “escape of water” accounted for 15% of claims between December 2008 and November 2009.
The average amount paid out for these claims was £3,000, [...]
Standard Life Bank sold to Barclays
by Gill Montia
Story link: Standard Life Bank sold to Barclays
Standard Life has sold its retail banking business to Barclays, for £226 million.
Under the terms of the transaction, Barclays will acquire a savings book of approximately £5.5 billion and a mortgage book with outstanding balances of around £8.8 billion (both figures as at 30th June 2009).
The unit, which was set up in 1998, reported underlying [...]
Standard Life’s Canadian business may go up for sale
by Gill Montia
Story link: Standard Life’s Canadian business may go up for sale
Standard Life is believed to have asked advisers to review its Canadian business with a view to a sale, The Independent has reported.
Such a move would have come only days after the Edinburgh-based insurer announced that David Nish is to succeed Sir Sandy Crombie as group chief executive officer, effective from 1st January.
The insurer’s Canadian [...]
Standard Life announce future CEO
by Richard Kilner
Story link: Standard Life announce future CEO
Standard Life has announced that David Nish is to succeed Sir Sandy Crombie as group chief executive officer, effective from 1 January 2010.
Nish joined the firm three years ago as group finance director, prior to which he had worked for Scottish Power in a number of senior roles including finance director.
Earlier in his career he [...]
Barclays linked to Standard Life Bank sale
by Gill Montia
Story link: Barclays linked to Standard Life Bank sale
Standard Life is rumoured to be in talks to sell its banking unit.
According to reports, the business could be worth between £200 million and £300 million and Barclays is the favorite to secure a deal.
Standard Life Bank is headquartered in Edinburgh where it employs around 300 staff.
The unit carries savings balances of around £5.5 [...]
Moneyfacts names best pensions providers
by Gill Montia
Story link: Moneyfacts names best pensions providers
Moneyfacts has announced the winners of its 2009 Investment Life and Pensions awards.
AEGON Scottish Equitable was acknowledged as Best Pension Service provider, with Standard Life and Scottish life gaining the category’s highly commended and commended statuses respectively.
Lloyds Banking Group’s Scottish Widows was named Best Personal Pension Provider and AJ Bell Best SIPP Provider.
Scottish Life won [...]
Standard Life achieves Pension Quality Mark
by Gill Montia
Story link: Standard Life achieves Pension Quality Mark
Standard Life is among a handful of companies to have received the Pension Quality Mark (PQM) of the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF).
The initiative, launched today, is the first quality mark for defined contribution pensions and aims to give workers a better insight into their employees’ schemes.
The award is only given where certain minimum [...]
Retirement at 74 plus for those who neglect planning
by Gill Montia
Story link: Retirement at 74 plus for those who neglect planning
Having studied Government data, Standard Life has come up with a realistic retirement age for Britons with no retirement savings.
The insurer estimates that those who have neglected their financial planning will need to remain at work until between 74 and 86-years-of-age, taking into account the Government’s decision to increase the state pension age to 68 [...]
Standard Life profit down 35%
by Gill Montia
Story link: Standard Life profit down 35%
Standard Life saw profit slump 35% in the first half of 2009, as pension sales weakened and asset values fell.
Pre-tax operating profit came in at £348 million for the period, down from £534 million a year earlier.
Net inflows from the group’s worldwide life and pensions operations stood at £662 million, compared with £1,842 million in [...]
Standard Life reports 20% slide in sales
by Gill Montia
Story link: Standard Life reports 20% slide in sales
Standard Life has reported a 20% fall in sales during the first quarter of 2009.
Worldwide life and pensions sales declined to £3.6 billion, down from £4.5 billion in the same period in 2008, while in the UK new business sales fell 27% to £2.5 billion.
However, the company said its first-quarter figures were better than expected, [...]
Insurer shareholders nervous ahead of budget
by David Masters
Story link: Insurer shareholders nervous ahead of budget
Aviva shares tumbled 7.5% to 253.5p after HSBC analyst Kailesh Mistry warned that dividends could be slashed in half this year.
Concerns that tax changes to pensions in today’s Budget announcement also helped to fuel the shareholder exodus from Britain’s largest insurer.
Reports in the Times newspaper suggested that the 20.5p drop in share price was due [...]
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 [...]
Standard Life limits withdrawals from property funds
by Gill Montia
Story link: Standard Life limits withdrawals from property funds
Standard Life has placed limits on withdrawals from some of its property funds.
Investors in up to six of the insurer’s commercial property funds have been told they will have to wait for six months to redeem their cash.
Policyholders who are withdrawing their investments because they are retiring will not be affected, nor the beneficiaries of [...]
Standard Life to compensate Sterling Fund investors
by Gill Montia
Story link: Standard Life to compensate Sterling Fund investors
Standard Life is proposing to reimburse some customers whose savings have lost value because they were invested in the insurer’s Sterling Fund.
The £2.4 billion fund has had 5% of its value wiped out by the credit crisis, or around £1,237 per investor.
The company is acknowledging that some people who put money in the fund [...]
Standard Life boss receives Knighthood
by Gill Montia
Story link: Standard Life boss receives Knighthood
Standard Life’s chief executive, Sandy Crombie, has received a knighthood in the New Year Honours.
The accolade is for services to the insurance industry in Scotland and the 59-year-old Edinburgh-based boss is reported to be delighted and very proud.
The award possibly reflects the fact that despite the credit crisis, Standard Life reported a 51% rise [...]
Standard Life cuts final bonuses
by Gill Montia
Story link: Standard Life cuts final bonuses
Standard Life has become the latest insurer to announce cuts in its final bonus payments on with-profits policies.
Around two million customers could be affected by reductions of between 9% and 13%.
In the case of a 25-year £50-a-month mortgage endowment policy, the maturity value will fall to £32,932 from £34,701 prior to the cut; the maturity [...]
