Standard Life Aberdeen’s new chief executive has confirmed the asset manager is looking at opportunities for cost savings in the Wrap and Elevate platforms and to target growth in the UK wealth management space and ETFs in his first newspaper interview since joining the asset manager in Q3.
Stephen Bird (pictured) told This is Money the company would be merging the websites for adviser platforms Wrap and Elevate over the next six months as part of a cost-cutting drive.
Despite Bird’s comments, a merger of the platforms remains off the table, a spokesperson told Portfolio Adviser. “We are committed to continue providing advisers using Elevate and Wrap a unique experience, while leveraging shared capabilities to drive scalability and operational efficiency.”
The changes would involve efficiencies behind the scenes and enhancements at the front end but separate experiences for users.
The spokesperson said: “We’ve previously outlined moving to common componentry across the back-end technology of Wrap and Elevate to reduce duplication and increase operational efficiencies, both of which combined will ultimately result in enhancements to the experience we provide to advisers and customers.”
While Standard Life Aberdeen was seeking cost savings from the two platforms, Bird said he saw opportunities in the UK wealth management market catering to both people with complex tax and pensions needs as well as those seeking to access simple investments using ETFs.
“The UK is a fantastic wealth opportunity and Covid has accelerated this,” Bird says. “People that are fortunate enough still to be working are saving like crazy.”
In September, rival asset manager M&G Investments announced it would be launching a £28bn wealth management arm following its acquisition of Ascentric.
See also: Will other fund houses follow M&G wealth management push?
Standard Life Aberdeen plans to launch ETFs next year
Bird said he plans to launch ETFs, which he called “robot” funds, in 2021.
“If you think of how complex it is today buying bonds, for example, there are many things that the computer does better than man – and we have to do both.”
He said he had drawn inspiration from Blackrock and had known Larry Fink for over a decade.
“Larry used to come and see me in the Far East, and we talked about the value of iShares,” Bird said. “Larry is happy to advise me and support me.”
He said becoming the UK’s answer to Blackrock, which manages $7.8trn compared to Standard Life Aberdeen’s £512bn, would be a “huge ambition”. “But there’s a lot of learned lessons from what they got right.”
“We’re actively assessing bolt-on capabilities – any good company should actively be doing that,” he said.
Standard Life Aberdeen rebrand
Bird also suggested there would be a rebrand of the different divisions across the group.
“Since the merger, the business hasn’t proven it was greater than the sum of the parts,” Bird admits.
“We’ve seen significant outflows of funds, albeit much better this year than in prior years. Another weakness is confused branding. We have six brand names and six websites. So we’re going to fix that.”
In the interview, Bird said he had been close to becoming chief executive of a number of banks before landing the Standard Life Aberdeen job.
He said he turned turn the job of ING chief executive, was close to becoming the CEO of HSBC and was in the running to succeed his boss at Citi, where he worked before joining Standard Life Aberdeen.
