Savers took £17bn from fund houses

ANXIOUS investors pulled more than £65,000 a minute from savings firms Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life ahead of their £11bn merger.

Standard Life yesterday revealed that £3.7bn was withdrawn from its funds in the first half of 2017.

It comes after Aberdeen suffered outflows of £13.4bn in the six months to March 31. That means they lost a combined £17.1bn – or around £65,250 every minute.

The two companies will complete their deal on Monday, creating Britain’s largest fund manager with £670bn of clients’ assets.

They are axing 800 jobs – almost 10pc of their combined workforce – in a bid to save £200m a year.

It is an increasingly tough market for fund managers, as they face competition from cheaper funds largely managed by computer algorithms.

But Standard Life boss Keith Skeoch insisted that the merger was about more than bulking up in a shrinking market. ‘We’re bringing together an asset management powerhouse,’ he said.

Standard Life shares slipped 0.2pc, or 1.2p, to 442.1p yesterday, while Aberdeen shares fell 0.3pc, or 1.1p, to 335.2p.