Skandia businesses will merge with parent Old Mutual Wealth

The Skandia businesses within the Old Mutual group will be merged into a single business called Old Mutual Wealth. Old Mutual says that the consolidated vision is to combine asset management capability with UK platform strength and offshore expertise to build a leading provider of wealth management solutions in the UK and internationally.Old Mutual Wealth (previously Old Mutual Wealth Management) has a single senior management team led by Paul Feeney as chief executive. Peter Mann will become managing director for the UK market and Steven Levin will become managing director for international markets.Old Mutual says that the merger of the Skandia businesses into Old Mutual Wealth will create a simplified and improved customer proposition that helps people manage their wealth and will enable Old Mutual plc to invest in a single brand globally. The sale of the Skandia Nordic business by Old Mutual plc to Skandia Liv earlier in 2012 makes now the time to make this change, says the company. This will avoid any confusion created by the Skandia brand being used by two separate companies - Old Mutual and Skandia Liv.Skandia UK, Skandia International and the Skandia European businesses outside of the Nordic region will adopt the Old Mutual Wealth brand in a staged changeover during the next 24 months in order to minimise disruption for customers and financial advisers, as well as completing the necessary regulatory procedures where applicable. Old Mutual Wealth's offshore products will be marketed under the Old Mutual International name to differentiate them from onshore products.The recently merged asset management business, comprising Skandia Investment Group and Old Mutual Asset Managers (UK), is part of Old Mutual Wealth but will retain a distinct asset management identity as Old Mutual Global Investors. This business will continue to be led by Julian Ide, reporting into Paul Feeney. Julian Ide will announce further details of the strategy for Old Mutual Global Investors within the next few weeks.An Old Mutual spokesman said: "Central to Old Mutual Wealth's strategy will be to expand the asset management capability of Old Mutual Global Investors in order to deliver investment solutions that are aligned to the changing needs of investors and financial advisers post RDR. It will look to combine these investment solutions with its UK platform to further develop a sustainably profitable and competitive UK platform business and it will look to expand its product range both in the UK and internationally."Paul Feeney, chief executive of Old Mutual Wealth, said: "This is an important development for the business. We are no longer simply owned by Old Mutual, we are Old Mutual Wealth and an integral element of the group's growth strategy."We are combining all the talents of the Skandia businesses to create a single, stronger company with one brand, one strategy and one vision. This vision is to become a leading provider of wealth management solutions both in the UK and across our international markets. We will do this by expanding our asset management capability and combining this with our unrivalled UK platform strength and offshore bond products to create investment solutions that our customers value."

Skandia businesses will merge with parent Old Mutual Wealth

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