InvestmentsSep 6 2018

Two firms left in battle to manage £109bn Lloyds mandates

twitter-iconfacebook-iconlinkedin-iconmail-iconprint-icon
Search supported by
Two firms left in battle to manage £109bn Lloyds mandates

Schroders and BlackRock remain in contention to manage around £109bn of assets Lloyds Bank withdrew from Aberdeen Standard Investments earlier this year.

It comes after Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan withdrew from the running to manage the assets.

As FTAdviser has previously reported, the assets were part of the Scottish Widows business and had been managed by Aberdeen Asset Management, but were removed when that company merged with Standard Life.

Lloyds said it was withdrawing the mandate from the newly combined group because it regarded Aberdeen Standard as a competitor to the Scottish Widows business it owned, which Aberdeen Standard disputed.

There had been four companies on the shortlist to manage the money, Schroders, BlackRock, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs.

FTAdviser's sister title, the Financial Times, has reported Goldman Sachs's decision to launch a UK retail bank meant it was now also a competitor to Lloyds Banking Group and so not eligible to manage the money.

Meanwhile JP Morgan has dropped out of the running to manage the money, leaving Schroders and BlackRock.

The assets may be divided between the two firms.

Aberdeen Standard investments said the revenue it will lose by not managing the money is not material and represented about 4 per cent of its assets.

david.thorpe@ft.com