Standard Life May Leave Scotland

Standard Life May Leave Scotland.

News has spread across the web this morning that Standard Life has confirmed that it is considering relocating its financial services operations from Scotland to England should Scotland leave the union.

Standard Life employees over 5,000 people in Scotland.

We have continually warned on this website that the question of Scottish independence has a much greater impact for the Scottish Economy than people imagine.

There are some huge Scottish based financial services groups such as Prudential, Scottish Widows and Bank of Scotland (both part of Lloyds Banking Group) and the Royal Bank of Scotland that between them employer 30,000 plus people in Scotland that may have to relocate if they wish to avoid red tape to trade in the United Kingdom.

Even then, if Scottish independence is achieved, this does not mean that Scotland will automatically become a member of the European Union.

The Impact of Scottish Independence:

• Scotland no longer part of the UK
• Scotland may no longer be an EU member
• Scotland no longer has the British pound

This may mean that Scottish based financial products cannot be marketed to residents of the UK and indeed, existing pensions and investments may then have some currency risk if they were then invested in a “Scottish Pound” or “Euro” with clients in the remaining United Kingdom of England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

A Scotland not part of the EU means Scottish financial products cannot be “passported” into the UK under the EU Life Insurance Directive, EU Banking Directive, EU Insurance Mediation Directive or EU Markets in Financial Instruments Directive to EU member nations (which of course includes the UK).

Possible Action:

Leading Scottish financial companies are no doubt looking at plans to relocate or establish UK based subsidiaries to enable trade to continue.

We will of course monitor developments and report on impact for clients and investors with Scottish based policies.