How do you expect your role to change due to the Standard Life merger?
We haven’t finalised any senior management structural matters like that yet. I would be happy to work for, with or lead the broader effort. The announcement of how the co-CEOs’ responsibility is going to work has been helpful and I am hoping it is going to be business as usual.
There will be more colleagues to work with across the globe, allowing us to improve our presence in more than 50 countries.
More importantly what’s driving that is at the end of this merger, both firms have a better range, more choice and improved performance for our customers. I’m looking forward to being able to have even more fulfilling conversations with our client base.
Have you met your opposite number at Standard Life?
Yes, Colin Clark, executive director of the global client group. We all met briefly and I’ve seen him once or twice before, in the industry. I also know Standard Life’s chief executive Keith Skeoch well, having sat on the Investment Management Association board.
Their business is slightly different to ours. It’s very complementary in terms of their clients and ours but until the merger happens, they are still competitors. We’ve got to follow both the spirit and the letter of various laws and codes, so it’s business as usual.
As you are both headquartered in Scotland, do you think it’ll give more resilience to mergers talks and ongoing scenarios?
The cultures are more alike than they are different. It helps that both firms were founded in Scotland. That no-nonsense, Scottish, hard-working approach to life will pervade both firms and both have an international outlook, which is good to see.
They have also tried to recruit locals for different countries and not force a homogenous approach to senior executives globally.
One notable presence you’ve got internationally is in Singapore, with Hugh Young leading that team. Where does this part of the business fit into the new group?
We have around 150 people in Singapore. In terms of distribution, it’s very complementary as far as the countries we are in. We’ve got a very international platform, from which the combined company will benefit.
We have client relationships that are not particularly overlapping, from 80 countries across the globe. We are going to be pretty unique when it comes to investment boots on the ground and proximity to clients.
You are right in saying there will be some more Aberdeen people in Singapore but the merged firms gives a scale and reach that is probably unrivalled. Our respective client banks show Aberdeen has a more international footprint, while Standard Life is better domestically.
People have been talking about this deal for shareholders and there has been a slight distraction, from my perspective, about how the co-CEOs are going to work. The reality is, it’s a massive company that requires some very senior executives and the great thing about Martin Gilbert and Keith is they are incredibly client-focused. They understand investment companies, which has been very reassuring for clients I’ve spoken with.
You don’t have to be Einstein to work out there are some regions where we will want to keep the combined headcount as full as possible. For example, Martin has been clear that we would like to do better in the US. The combined resources of two firms gets us to almost £100bn. We now have two teams of people there who could really go after the US market in a broader way and hopefully with an improved product set.
No firm has ever really succeeded globally unless they have been either very large or dominant in their home market. This gives us a truly British powerhouse that can compete globally. People should be pleased that here’s two groups, really facing up to some massive industry challenges and saying, “Right, it makes better sense for customers and shareholders to create this significant global powerhouse, to accelerate how competitive we can be”.
What do you think of the report, following the merger announcement, that said Aberdeen must improve its fund performance?
I can show you any figure that will give you two different stories about performance on any given day. I would say one and three-year figures are improving significantly. We are long-term, active investors and our clients continue to support us. We continue to win business and to be involved in thousands of opportunities globally.
