Phoenix Group, the UK’s largest savings and retirement business, is considering changing its name to Standard Life.
Phoenix acquired the Standard Life brand in 2021 from Aberdeen.
“Standard Life is a strong brand with 200 years of history and the brand we are using to grow our business across three markets,” Phoenix said in a statement.
The group said the change of its name had not yet received approval from the board.
On March 17, Standard Life reported a 13% growth in Workplace net fund flows of £5.3 billion in 2024, taking its Workplace assets under administration (AUA) to £66.5 billion. Standard Life said it wrote £5.1 billion of premiums in the year (FY 2023: £6.2bn) and has built a 12% market share of the Individual Annuity market.
Parent firm Phoenix reported that 2024 FRS adjusted operating profit increased 31% to £825 million “driven by profitable growth in both Pensions and Savings (£316m) (FY 2023: £190m) and Retirement Solutions (£474m) (FY 2023: £378m).”
On January 29, Phoenix said that Andy Curran, CEO of its Standard Life business, has decided to retire in the summer of 2025 “after a transformative five year tenure in which the business has become a key driver of the group’s organic growth.”
Phoenix said that following Curran’s retirement, the company will move to a “flatter leadership structure” which will see the Retirement Solutions and Asset Management divisions coming together to create a new business unit.
The new business unit will be led by Phoenix Group Chief Investment Officer Mike Eakins.