life plc type public company traded as lse sl . industry financial services founded 1825 ; 191 years ago 1825 headquarters edinburgh scotland uk key people sir gerry grimstone chairman keith skeoch ceo from august 2015 revenue 8 892 million 2015 1 operating income 549 million 2015 1 net income 415 million 2015 1 number of employees 6 500 2016 2 website www.standardlife.com http www.standardlifeinvestments.com https www.standardlife.co.uk standard life plc is an investment company with headquarters in edinburgh and operations around the globe . it has 1.2 million shareholders in more than 50 countries 2 and 4.5 million customers and clients worldwide with a further 25 million customers through joint ventures in china and india . 3 contents 1 history 2 operations 3 senior management 4 controversy 5 references 6 external links history edit the standard life assurance company was established in 1825 and was reincorporated as a mutual assurance company in 1925 . 4 during the 19th century it opened offices in canada india china and uruguay . 4 in 2006 demutualisation took place and the company was floated on the london stock exchange . 5 the company sold standard life bank plc to barclays plc in january 2010 6 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 . 7 head office building located at 30 lothian road in edinburgh it sold its healthcare division to discovery holdings a south african business in may 2010 8 and went on to buy focus solutions group a financial software company for 42m in december 2010 . 9 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 in a deal worth up to 83.5 million . 10 in march 2014 it was announced that standard life was in advanced talks to purchase rival phoenix group holdings ignis asset management for around 400 million . 11 towards the end of the month standard life completed the acquisition for a fee of 390 million . 12 in september 2014 standard life agreed to sell its canadian operations to the manufacturers life insurance company a subsidiary of manulife financial corporation . 13 it completed this sale on 30 january 2015 for a cash consideration of c 4.0 bn . the transaction included a global collaboration agreement where manulife will seek to distribute standard life investments funds in canada the us and asia . 14 in a round up of 2014 business pre tax profits rose by 19 % to 604m fee based revenue during the year grew 14 % to 1.43 bn and over 340 000 auto enrolment customers were added . the pay and bonus of chief executive david nish rose by 23 % to almost 5.5 m. 15 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 . 16 in doing so it confirmed that it had entered into an agreement with skipton building society to purchase pearson jones 17 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 . 18 in july 2016 a property investment fund managed by standard life investments froze withdrawals after experiencing liquidity issues . 19 20 21 operations edit standard life is an investment company headquartered in edinburgh with operations across the globe . 22 it employs around 6 500 people internationally 2 through businesses in the uk europe north america asia and australasia . it has around 4.5 million customers and clients across 46 countries and is responsible for the administration of 328bn of their assets . the company has a further 25 million customers through its indian and chinese associate and joint venture businesses hdfc life in india and heng an standard life in china . 22 standard life investments offers global asset management expertise and actively manages over 269bn worldwide . in the uk standard life also owns three subsidiary businesses focus solutions a software and consultancy business threesixty a services provider and vebnet a software and services provider . 23 standard life has a primary listing on the london stock exchange and has around 1.2 million individual shareholders . 24 it is also listed in a number of the dow jones sustainability indices djsi including the djsi world which ranks the world s leading sustainability driven publicly listed companies . 25 senior management edit the company s board of directors is made up of a chairman four executive directors and seven non executive directors . 26 the board has nine men and three women . details of the chairman and executive directors include sir gerry grimstone chairman appointed in may 2007 keith skeoch chief executive appointed on 5 august 2015 replacing david nish luke savage chief financial officer appointed in august 2014 colin clark director global client group appointed in november 2015 paul matthews uk & europe ceo appointed in november 2015 the non executive directors are pierre danon appointed in october 2011 noel harwerth appointed in july 2012 lynne peacock appointed in april 2012 martin pike appointed in september 2013 kevin parry appointed in october 2014 melanie gee appointed in november 2015 john devine appointed in july 2016 controversy edit 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 . 27 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 . 28 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 . 29 a standard life spokesman defended the awards citing the leadership s efforts in turning round the company s fortunes . 29 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 . 30 references edit a b c annual report 2015 pdf . retrieved 26 march 2016 . a b c about standard life . standardlife.com . retrieved 26 march 2016 . london stock exchange market news . retrieved 6 february 2015 . a b standard life history one of the first empire builders the scotsman 2 september 2010 standard life policyholders rush to cash in on flotation the guardian 24 september 2006 barclays buys standard life bank for 226m daily telegraph 26 october 2009 standard life takes full control of threesixty the scotsman 15 march 2010 standard life sells healthcare division bbc news 11 may 2010 standard life buys focus for 42m bbc news 7 december 2010 nicole blackmore 27 february 2013 . standard life wealth acquires newton s private client division . fundweb . richa naidu 24 march 2014 . standard life in advanced talks to buy phoenix asset management unit . reuters . simon jessop 26 march 2014 . standard life ramps up fund business with ignis acquisition . reuters . manulife to buy standard life s canadian assets for 3.7 billion . reuters 4 september 2014 cityam news disposal of canadian companies . cityam . retrieved 2 february 2015 . bbc news standard life reports sharp rise in operating profit . bbc news . retrieved 21 march 2015 . london stock exchange market news . london stock exchange . 6 february 2015 . standard life completes purchase of pearson jones in 1bn advice play . professional adviser . 11 may 2015 . standard life names restricted advice business 1825 . professional adviser . 1 may 2015 . https www.theguardian.com business 2016 jul 04 standard life shuts property fund post brexit withdrawals http www.ft.com fastft 2016 07 05 fund manager shares slide after standard life fund freeze http www.businessinsider.com.au jefferies warns of repeat of 2007 for uk property as standard life pauses withdrawals from fund 2016 7 a b standard life plc sl.l company profile . reuters.com . retrieved 2013 04 04 . sullivan nicola 2010 12 08 . standard life acquires focus solutions to enhance corporate wrap news . employee benefits . retrieved 2013 04 04 . standard life plc ord 10p share price shares . london stock exchange . 2006 07 10 . retrieved 2013 04 04 . standard life plc joins top 10 % of companies in the world edinburgh scotland october 24 2011 prnewswire . prnewswire.com . 2011 10 24 . retrieved 2013 04 04 . standard life plc sl . lse company performance ft.com . markets.ft.com . retrieved 2013 04 04 . richard dyson mail on sunday29 january 2006 12 00 am 29 january 2006 . is standard life fighting fair . thisismoney.co.uk . retrieved 19 april 2011 . cs1 maint multiple names authors list link standard life in bid to axe 1 000 jobs evening times 23 march 2007 a b fury at 5m for standard life bosses . edinburghnews.scotsman.com . retrieved 19 april 2011 . bbc 27 february 2014 . scottish independence standard life draws up yes contingency plan . bbc . retrieved 27 february 2014 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to standard life . companies portal official website standard life investments standard life plc twitter standard life community google plus linkedin youtube twitter uk facebook page uk website coordinates 55 56 54 n 3 12 26 w 55.948312 n 3.207092 w 55.948312 ; 3.207092 v t e ftse 100 companies of the united kingdom ftse 250 3i admiral group anglo american antofagasta ashtead group associated british foods astrazeneca aviva bae systems bhp billiton bp babcock international barclays barratt developments british american tobacco british 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