Bank is facing a battle over £109bn of assets

ANALYSIS SCOTTISH Widows appeared to steal something of a march on Standard Life back in February when its owner, Lloyds Banking Group, announced it no longer wanted Standard Life Aberdeen to manage £109 billion of assets on its behalf.

Though the business had been happy for Aberdeen Asset Management to run the money - which is mainly invested in cheap-to-run passive pension funds - it changed its tune after Aberdeen joined up with Widows’ old rival Standard Life, becoming what in Lloyds’ eyes was a “material competitor”.

Now, after spending six months considering rival bids, Lloyds is getting close to deciding which firm or firms to hand the investment mandate to instead.

The problem is that

Standard Life Aberdeen, which is co-run by City bruiser Martin Gilbert, is not going to give it up without a fight. Indeed, it revealed in May that it had begun the dispute resolution process envisaged in the agreement between the two firms and its position is understood to remain unchanged.

Given that the mandate is worth £130 million in annual fees up until an expiry date of March 2022, it is obvious why Standard Life Aberdeen would argue the toss, even if the figure is a tiny proportion of the near £3bn the business turned over in 2017.

Of course, it is possible that the plan Lloyds is preparing to unveil includes Standard Life Aberdeen in some shape or form, even if that does mean the latter giving some ground on fees. If it doesn’t, the lawyers for both sides had better be waiting on standby.