Standard Life takes £473m hit after stock market rally dents hedges Investing Standard Life swung to a loss in the first half of the year after the market moved against positions the firm had taken to shield itself against volatility. The FTSE 100 pensions giant posted an overall loss of £179m for the first six months of the year, driven by £473m in paper losses on financial [...]
As it happened: FTSE 100 inche up as oil holds gains; Healey says UK paying ‘Truss penalty’ FTSE 100 Live Welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Markets are returning from the weekend to weigh up the latest round of rising tensions in the Middle East after the US and Iran have continued to exchange strikes stoking fears of a hit to global oil supply. Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – [...]
Standard Life partners with Goldman Sachs and CVC to fuel pension risk transfer business Insurance Standard Life has struck a deal with a group of global finance giants including CVC and Goldman Sachs in a bid to accelerate its push into the booming pension risk transfer market. The FTSE 100 group has joined forces with a CVC-led consortium, which also includes insurer Prudential, to commit as much as £2bn over [...]
Ban foreign stocks from Isa wrapper, says top pensions boss July 28, 2026 The tax-free wrapper on a stocks and shares Isa should be restricted to investments in UK assets, according to the chair of a top pension fund who also called for an inheritance tax carve-out for retail investors who buy government bonds. Speaking at an event, Standard Life chair Nicholas Lyons argued limiting the tax incentive [...]
Andy Briggs: UK is hurtling towards a pensions disaster May 27, 2026 Without radical change, Britain will find itself amidst a pensions disaster, with millions worse off, writes Andy Briggs.
Pension fund snaps up cut-price government bonds amid Starmer sell-off May 13, 2026 One of the UK’s largest pension funds has jumped on the turmoil that speculation over Keir Starmer’s future has unleashed on the gilt market, scooping up government bonds at multi-decade low valuations. Standard Life has added to its holding of UK government debt, City AM understands, seizing on a sharp dip in the of the [...]
Revealed: The 2026 City AM Awards Winners May 7, 2026 Around 500 guests enjoyed a night of celebration at London’s Guildhall on Wednesday 6 May where the winners of the 2026 City AM Awards were crowned. From 60 finalists across 12 categories, the judges chose their champions. Personality of the Year Greg Jackson CBE The entrepreneur and CEO of Octopus Energy has become one of [...]
Standard Life’s Briggs warns ‘retirement adequacy is a genuine concern’, as £2bn Aegon deal unveiled April 15, 2026 The boss of one of the UK’s largest pension providers has spoken out on the state of the nation’s retirement financing on the day he unveiled a blockbuster industry takeover. Andy Briggs, chief executive of Standard Life, told City AM that “retirement adequacy is a genuine concern” and pointed to further potential dealmaking. He noted [...]
Standard Life snaps up Aegon UK for £2bn to create savings giant April 15, 2026 Standard Life has snapped up the UK’s largest investment platform Aegon UK in a £2bn deal. The FTSE 100 giant – previously known as Phoenix Group – said the deal would create the UK’s top retirement savings and income business with near 16m customers and £480bn in assets under administration. Standard Life expects an annual [...]
‘More needs to be done’ to help pension savers after salary sacrifice, says Standard life boss March 16, 2026 The boss of one of the UK’s largest pension providers has warned “more needs to be done” to help those saving for retirement after the government introduced a cap on salary sacrifice in the latest Budget. Andy Briggs, the chief executive of Standard Life, told City AM: “Obviously, we weren’t supportive of [salary sacrifice changes] [...]