Lloyds Banking Group has cut ties with Standard Life Aberdeen completely, selling its entire stake in the business.
It comes after Lloyds pulled £109bn of assets from the investment manager citing concerns that Aberdeen Asset Management had become a competitor following its merger with Standard Life.
In a statement to the market Lloyds confirmed it sold the whole 3.3 per cent stake in Standard Life Aberdeen, raising £344m and pushing the company's share price down around 1 per cent.
The £109bn in assets were managed for the Scottish Widows by Aberdeen before its merger with Standard Life last year.
Since the merger Lloyds concluded the combined Standard Life Aberdeen business was a competitor, which Standard Life Aberdeen disputes, so it pulled the assets.
Standard Life Aberdeen said the assets in question were low margin, accounting for 4 per cent of revenue, and so would not have a material impact on its business.
Three companies are in the running to manage some or all of the £109bn of assets: Schroders, JP Morgan and BlackRock.
david.thorpe@ft.com
