Standard Life Aberdeen may be ready to sell off its 175-year-old Standard Life brand to acquisitive life insurance group Phoenix Group.

Sky News is reporting speculation that Standard Life Aberdeen new chief executive Stephen Bird will shed some of the group’s brands as part of a shake-up.

The broadcaster believes Mr Bird may see the group as over-burdened with too many brand names following a number of merges and acquisitions.

In the platform sector alone the group runs Standard Life Wrap, Elevate and Parmenion.

While the brand may be sold, Sky News believes it likely that SLA would continue to be the asset manager for any funds.

The Standard Life name has been in existence for nearly 200 years.

The changes would follow the 2017 merger between Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management in 2017.

Standard Life and Phoenix have been asked for comment by Financial Planning Today but so far neither has commented publicly.

Last year Standard Life Aberdeen reported sharp falls in revenue and profits, blaming the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic and Lloyds Banking Group for pulling out £25bn of managed funds. 

Fee-based revenue in the first half to 30 June fell from £815m (H1 2019) to £706m – a drop of £109m. Pre-tax profit for the half year was £195m, down 30%.