Standard Life turns guns on rivals
STANDARD Life chief executive Sandy Crombie today vowed to take the fight to the insurance group's rivals Aviva and Prudential as he seeks to revive the mutual ahead of its stock market float in 2006.
After a year of dramatic cost-cutting, including the loss of 2,200 jobs, and the decision to quit unprofitable product areas in Britain, Crombie said Standard Life was ready to go on the front foot.
'We are still one of the big guns,' he said. 'Standard Life last year was the most talked about company in brokers' offices because in many respects we are the benchmark, the one everyone has to beat. This year, people will find it very hard to beat us in the areas where we want to compete.'
The rallying call came as annual results showed only a slight improvement in the insurance group's solvency position despite the radical measures taken by Crombie in the past year.
He is repositioning the business after its decision to abandon mutuality and list in the City in a bid to shore up the balance sheet following a disastrous expansion under former chief Iain Lumsden.
Standard Life's fund for future appropriations - an accounting tool used to measure solvency - edged up 4% to £4.5bn in 2004. Cost savings came in ahead of target at more than £100m.
In a nod to its mutual heritage, Standard Life did not disclose a profit figure today but reiterated that new UK life and pension sales came in at £939m in 2004 - an underlying 10% drop.
