Summary
EVENTS this week at Standard Life and Abbey raise the stakes for the Scottish Executive's financial services strategy group and every- one engaged in the sector in Scot-land. Few of us were willing to acknowledge seven days ago that a mutual organisation with the majority of its capital linked to mysterious "with profits" policies was a dangerous relic and totally at odds with the new transparent regime in the City. Now Standard Life has been dressed down and forced to play by the same rules as everyone else.
No-one can any longer pretend that Scotland's actuarial tradition, geographical independence, agreeable accent or low-cost infrastructure provide any durable competitive advantage in global financial markets. Standard Life will need to learn many games when it becomes the stock-market new boy; and Scotland needs to find a new "differentiator" to stay relevant in the global financial services market. Policymakers and company officers alike should heed the warning and focus their minds on innovation.See the full content of this document
Extract
Time to Rethink in the Finance Sector
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