During the 19th century it opened offices in Canada, India, Shanghai and Uruguay.[5]
In 2006 demutualisation took place and the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange.[6]
The company sold Standard Life Bank plc to Barclays plc in January 2010[7] 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.[8]
It sold its healthcare division to Discovery Holdings, a South African business, in May 2010[9] and went on to buy Focus Solutions Group, a financial software company, for £42m in December 2010.[10]
In February 2013, the company announced that it had 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.[11]
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.[12] Towards the end of the month, Standard Life completed the acquisition for a fee of £390 million.[13]