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Article: Our mutual friend? More an arrogant self server Doing The Business There are massive holes in Standard's piggy bank where savers' money used to be
- Article from:
- The Sunday Telegraph London
- Article date:
- January 18, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2004 The Sunday Telegraph London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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For Standard Life - the Edinburgh-based mutual insurer that has
done for its members' assets what the Duke of Sutherland did to
Highland tenants - the past week has been just about as humiliating
as corporate life gets without going bust.
Having beaten back proposals to demutualise in 2000 and 2003,
Standard's management was forced to admit that the business's
finances are now so parlous that a stock market flotation is being
considered to stave off further decline.
Though that may seem shocking, it's not surprising. When a
company's top brass is cocooned in a culture of arrogance and
conceit, as Standard's was, rational thought rarely emerges as the
winner.
Four years ago, Standard had the ...