A future for Standard Life in the 'yes' vote

Its executives are confident policyholders will give their approval on Wednesday to reverse the decision of its 1925 predecessors and turn the Edinburgh-based life insurer into the UK's newest plc by the end of June. And since his arrival in July 2004, Trevor Matthews, chief executive of Standard Life UK life and pensions, has played an instrumental role in the huge levels of preparatory work required for demutualisation and shaken up the company both in terms of market direction, systems efficiency and staffing levels. It has meant tough actions had to be taken, such as the redundancy of...