Aberdeen and Standard Life set aside £35m in retention bonuses

According to reports from Sky News, the bonuses would be payable to fund managers who remain with the group for at least three years and the outlay would form part of the £320m cost associated with the merger.

Responding to the reports, a Standard Life spokesperson said: “At Standard Life Investments we have a strong team-based ethos, and this is underpinned by remuneration arrangements which are structured to reward performance over the long term and encourage retention of our talent.

“We have specific plans in place to engage and retain our talent through the merger process.”

The merger is reportedly set to put up to 1,000 jobs at risk and will result in cost savings of £200m a year.

The same week that the deal was announced, SLI announced its head of equities, David Cumming, was departing to pursue other interests.

Aberdeen now has a market value of just under £3.7bn, while Standard Life is worth £7.2bn, with shares in both companies having fallen since they confirmed that they were in merger talks.