Standard Life Aberdeen Cuts Pay for Top Executives Including CEO

(Bloomberg) -- Standard Life Aberdeen Plc’s top executives were dealt pay cuts last year as the U.K. asset manager suffered outflows.

Keith Skeoch, named sole chief executive officer last month when the firm scrapped its dual-leadership structure, saw his total compensation for 2018 cut by 62 percent to 1.09 million pounds ($1.43 million), according to the firm’s annual report. The maximum bonus payable to Martin Gilbert, named vice chairman of the Edinburgh-based firm following the restructuring, was more than halved.

The incentive compensation for U.K.-based employees on average dropped by 45 percent, according to the annual report. A spokesman for the firm said that bonuses had fallen across the industry as a result of outflows and performance. The firm cut bonuses for many employees, the Telegraph reported earlier.

The combination of Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life was initially intended to create a heavyweight capable of competing with low-fee passive money managers. But the firm has struggled, with clients pulling 40.9 billion pounds from investment funds last year following outflows of 32.9 billion pounds in 2017. Assets under management fell to 551.5 billion pounds from 608.1 billion pounds a year earlier.

To contact the reporter on this story: Suzy Waite in London at swaite8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shelley Robinson at ssmith118@bloomberg.net, Chitra Somayaji

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.