Standard Life fails to stem £23bn outflows

Standard Life has failed to shake off the plague of severe outflows even after its merger with Aberdeen Asset Management earlier this year its latest results have revealed.

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Company outflows hit £23bn ($30.6bn, €26.1bn) in the nine months to 30 September this year, marginally less than the total outflows of £23.8bn reported in 2016.

The two companies Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management finalised the merger in the summer and created a new investment arm, Aberdeen Standard Investments.

Outflows surged in the newly named Aberdeen Standard with net outflows of £28.1bn in AUMA over the nine months, up on the previous year’s £25.8bn loss.

The losses left total assets under management and administration largely flat on the year previously at £646.2bn.

Company chief executives Martin Gilbert and Keith Skeoch insisted it was making progress in its aim of creating “a world-class investment company”.

“The integration of Aberdeen Standard Investments is on track and we are delighted with the way the teams are coming together to deliver for clients,” they said.

“While the combined business has experienced net outflows, these were in line with our expectations given the asset classes affected and the structural outflows from our lower margin mature books.”

The institutional business took a hit with £32.4bn of redemptions forcing net outflows nearly £5bn higher than in 2016, at £14.9bn.

Gilbert and Skeoch said they remained “confident” of delivering long-term flow despite the company’s outflow woes.

“The momentum in our business is good with £58.6bn of gross inflows during the period,” they said.

“We continue to innovate, launching new funds with strong backing from clients and winning new mandates across a wide range of investment strategies. Standard Life, our pensions and savings business has had record flows year to date demonstrating further strength and diversity of our business.”

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