Phoenix Group Holdings plc, which employs around 2,000 people at its Standard Life operation in Edinburgh, told the stock market that its name will change to Standard Life plc in March 2026, following sustained speculation in the city.
It underlines the impact that Standard Life has had on Phoenix since it acquired the life and pensions book of the venerable Edinburgh investment business for £3.2 billion in 2018. The deal signalled a change in direction for Phoenix, which before the Standard Life deal had focused on consolidating closed pensions books that were built up by firms that had stopped taking on new business. But since the acquisition Phoenix has been striving to win new customers by selling Standard Life financial services products. It now has around five million Standard Life branded policies.
Phoenix acquired the brand in February 2021 from the then Standard Life Aberdeen, which was formed by the merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management in 2017.
Standard Life Aberdeen controversially changed its name under former chief executive Stephen Bird to abrdn in 2021, drawing much derision for the decision to drop the vowels from its corporate identity. But it was then changed to Aberdeen by Mr Bird’s successor, Jason Windsor, earlier this year.
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Nick Sherrard, manging director of advice platform Label Sessions, said: “The transition of Phoenix into Standard Life has been the worst-kept secret in the industry. The original move to acquire the Standard Life brand from what is now Aberdeen, though, looks like an incredible bargain. Or, to put it another way, the Standard Life brand name was a massively undervalued asset.
“Brand recognition and trust are both very hard and hugely expensive for a company to build, but Phoenix has managed to become Standard Life simply and inexpensively. The new owners will reap the rewards of years of investment made by shareholders of Aberdeen and there are lots of possibilities for the new Standard Life in the future.
“The defenestration of the brand that was Standard Life and is now Aberdeen is going to be a business school case study for many years to come.
“Aberdeen is left with big brand issues that it will need to face into fast. Naming is an area that is absolutely key to a brand’s success, but leadership teams are often much more comfortable talking about visual design. Hopefully all that has happened in the various homes of Standard Life will show leaders the risk of that.”
Phoenix reported yesterday a “strong first half performance with progress against all key financial metrics we use to drive the business”.
First-half operating profits leapt by 25% to £451 million. The company now has around £295bn of assets under administration and about 12 million customers.
Chief executive Andy Briggs declared Phoenix is “increasingly well placed to serve our customers’ retirement needs and create further customer and shareholder value as we fulfil our vision to become the UK’s leading retirement savings and income business”
He said: “We’ve strengthened our balance sheet and continued to invest in our market-leading pensions and savings and retirement solutions businesses.
“Our strategic delivery includes moving ahead with our advice proposition and in-housing the management of annuity-backing assets to benefit from our scaled asset management capabilities. We support c.12 million customers in managing over £295bn in assets under administration. Changing our name from Phoenix Group Holdings plc to Standard Life plc in March 2026 brings our most trusted brand to the forefront and demonstrates our commitment to helping customers secure a better retirement.”
Shares in Phoenix closed down 7.61%, or 51p, at 619p.