Standard Life and "Abrdn"

TychoTMA

I've had a wrap of investments with Standard Life for some years. Then I got a letter saying the wrap would be managed by a newly formed part of Standard Life called ABRDN !

That was a year ago and I've just had a whole load of problems since then. The quarterly reports I get from them are still headed "Standard Life" while on-line, there are now two quite separate websites, but logging in on ABRDN takes me to a Standard Life page (which is not currently working for me).

I think I take the view that I don't want to keep money in a business which seems to be in shambles. Has anyone else had problems with this changeover?

Albermarle

Standard Life was sold in two separate parts. The retail pension ( direct to public) was sold to Phoenix,and the rest to what is now called ABRDN.
To begin with both parts retained the Standard Life name ( confusing) but then Phoenix said ABRDN had to stop using it. So then there was a gradual switchover to using the ABRDN name for that part of the business.
Retail customers of Standard Life have seen no name change.

Beddie

Worst name ever! Also the merger trashed the value of my SL shares, which were a small cushion to my poor endowment return.

Yes, I know I should have sold them....

dunstonh

That was a year ago and I've just had a whole load of problems since then. The quarterly reports I get from them are still headed "Standard Life" while on-line, there are now two quite separate websites, but logging in on ABRDN takes me to a Standard Life page (which is not currently working for me).

Like most rebrands that have occurred over the years, the changeover of letterheads, logos etc has been done over a period and not all at the same day.

I think I take the view that I don't want to keep money in a business which seems to be in shambles. Has anyone else had problems with this changeover?

What shambles?

Abdrn is standard life.  It's a rebrand, thats all.    There is a phased period of moving to the new brand.    After that period you wil never see the standard life brand with them again as Phoenix have bought it off them.

Nannie_27

I have had shares from 2006 with Standard Life... does anyone know if these are still valid? 

eskbanker

Nannie_27 said:

I have had shares from 2006 with Standard Life... does anyone know if these are still valid? 

Do you mean you hold shares (in other companies) on the SL investment platform, or that you hold shares of Standard Life?

Richmmm

The standard of service with Standard Life has crashed this year, I have had two problems with them, still waiting for the last one to be resolved after a couple of months when they sold one of my holdings without my permission. They only seem to care that they follow the regulators guidlines keeping you informed that they still haven't sorted your issue.

As it is a company pension, I am a prisoner with them but if I had the choice, I would go elsewhere.

Rich

Albermarle

Richmmm said:

The standard of service with Standard Life has crashed this year, I have had two problems with them, still waiting for the last one to be resolved after a couple of months when they sold one of my holdings without my permission. They only seem to care that they follow the regulators guidlines keeping you informed that they still haven't sorted your issue.

As it is a company pension, I am a prisoner with them but if I had the choice, I would go elsewhere.

Rich

Normally they get a better press than other similar companies like The Pru, Aegon etc but their new owners are starting to change the organisation. So we will see.......

wmb194

Nannie_27 said:

I have had shares from 2006 with Standard Life... does anyone know if these are still valid? 

Technically they're defunct but the answer is, it depends; how do you hold these? I'm presuming in certificated form? It merged with Aberdeen in 2017 so you should have received new a certificate - do you have a certificate for 'Standard Life Aberdeen plc' or 'ABRDN plc'? (It later changed its name.) If so, and the ratio of new shares is correct (c.66.7%), you can bin this certificate. If you didn't receive a new certificate then you should contact abdrn's share registrar. You might also be missing some dividends.

https://www.investopedia.com/investing/behind-standard-aberdeen-merger/

https://www.abrdn.com/corporate/media-centre/media-centre-news-article/merger-of-aberdeen-asset-management-and-standard-life-completes

wmb194

Richmmm said:

The standard of service with Standard Life has crashed this year, I have had two problems with them, still waiting for the last one to be resolved after a couple of months when they sold one of my holdings without my permission. They only seem to care that they follow the regulators guidlines keeping you informed that they still haven't sorted your issue.

As it is a company pension, I am a prisoner with them but if I had the choice, I would go elsewhere.

Rich

Isn't that Phoenix now? IIRC Phoenix took on its pensions business and now owns the brand name.

dunstonh

The standard of service with Standard Life has crashed this year

Are you talking about standard life now owned by Phoenix or Standard Life now branded as Abrdn?

I have found no issues with service from the Abrdn branded side.

As it is a company pension, I am a prisoner with them but if I had the choice, I would go elsewhere.

So, that will be on the Phoenix side then.   

Phoenix takeovers tend to suffer a little initially but then improve significantly.  Indeed, many of the Phoenix plans are run better with them than the old legacy companies.  It just takes a bit of time during the changeover.