Savers take £23bn out of funds titan

INVESTORS have pulled out £23bn from funds managed by Standard Life Aberdeen amid jitters over the mega-merger in August which created the business.

The savings titan was created through an £11bn tie-up between Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life as they battled to cut costs in the ultra-competitive market.

But customers were spooked by the risks involved and withdrew the money in the nine months to September 30.

This is a slight improvement on the £23.8bn taken from the two firms in the same period last year.

When fund businesses merge, they typically lose between 5pc and 10pc of their assets as backers get nervous.

The overall value of client investments managed by SLA dipped slightly from £647.6bn to £646.2bn in the period.

Joint chief executives Martin Gilbert and Keith Skeoch said the funds withdrawn were ‘in line with our expectations’.

Gilbert and Skeoch added: ‘Nevertheless, the momentum in our business is good.’

Shares rose 1pc, or 4.2p, to 418p.