1825–2010

The Standard Life Assurance Company was established in 1825 and reincorporated as a mutual assurance company in 1925.^[3] During the 19th century it opened offices in Canada, India, China and Uruguay.^[3]

In 2006 demutualisation took place and the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange.^[4] The company sold Standard Life Bank plc to Barclays plc in January 2010^[5] and then acquired the remaining 75 per cent stake in Threesixty, a financial advisory support business, that it did not already own for an undisclosed sum in March 2010.^[6] It sold its healthcare division to Discovery Holdings, a South African business, in May 2010^[7] and went on to buy Focus Solutions Group, a financial software company, for £42m in December 2010.^[8]

In January 2006, Standard Life were accused of smearing a policy-holder, Michael Hogan, who was not happy with the way the company was being run. An e-mail sent to Standard Life executives and advisors (which was disclosed under the Data Protection Act) revealed an attempt to discredit him.^[9]

2011–2015

In February 2013, the company acquired the private client division of Newton Management Limited, a UK wealth management unit of BNY Mellon, in a deal worth up to £83.5 million.^[10] In March 2014, it was announced that Standard Life was in advanced talks to purchase rival Phoenix Group Holdings' Ignis Asset Management for around £400 million.^[11] Towards the end of the month, Standard Life completed the acquisition for a fee of £390 million.^[12]

In September 2014, Standard Life agreed to sell its Canadian operations to The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corporation.^[13] It completed this sale on 30 January 2015 for a cash consideration of C$4.0bn. The transaction included a Global Collaboration Agreement where Manulife will seek to distribute Standard Life Investments' funds in Canada, the US and Asia.^[14] In a round-up of 2014 business, pre-tax profits rose by 19% to £604m, fee-based revenue during the year grew 14% to 1.43bn, and over 340,000 auto-enrolment customers were added. The pay and bonus of Chief Executive, David Nish, rose by 23% to almost £5.5m.^[15]

In February 2015, Standard Life announced it was launching a wholly-owned, UK financial advice business.^[16] In doing so, it confirmed that it had entered into an agreement with Skipton Building Society to purchase Pearson Jones,^[17] a firm of financial advisers and paraplanners, and this acquisition was completed in May 2015 when the name of its new financial advice business was announced as "1825" – a reference to the year Standard Life was founded.^[18]

2016–2017

In July 2016, a property investment fund managed by Standard Life Investments froze withdrawals after experiencing liquidity issues.^[19][20]

In March 2017, Standard Life reached an agreement to merge with Aberdeen Asset Management, in an all-share merger, subject to shareholder approval.^[21] It was announced that the merged company was to be named Standard Life Aberdeen.^[22] This was achieved by Standard Life being renamed Standard Life Aberdeen on 14 August 2017.^[23]

2018 - 2021

In 2018, Phoenix Group Holdings plc acquired Standard Life from Standard Life Aberdeen plc for £2.9 billion.^[24]

In May 2021, Phoenix Group acquired the 'Standard Life' brand ^[25] and in July 2021 Aberdeen Standard Life Group companies rebranded as ‘abrdn’.^[26]