Guiding the journey to and through retirement: Standard Life’s purpose in Ireland and beyond

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Championing better retirement outcomes 

On 2 March, Phoenix Group completed its name change to Standard Life plc and is now listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker SDLF. 

While this doesn’t affect how we operate here in Ireland – where the Standard Life name and brand have always remained front and centre – it does mark a strategic shift for the group, bringing its most trusted brand to the forefront and demonstrating our commitment to helping customers secure a better retirement.  
As a group and here in Ireland, Standard Life champions the belief that everyone’s journey to and through retirement can be better. We use our size, expertise and influence to shape the world customers will retire into. And we are committed to creating trusted partnerships with financial advisers, built on aligned objectives.
 

A refreshed brand with a reinforced position 

With the group’s renaming comes a natural moment to refresh how we express our brand. We’re updating our look and feel to better reflect what retirement really looks like today – more varied, more personal, and full of possibility. At the heart of the brand is a genuinely optimistic belief in better retirement outcomes for everyone. Our tone will stay grounded and empathetic, shaped by what we learn from real retirees and their experiences. And we’ll keep creating practical content and support tools that reflect real life, helping advisers guide clients with clarity and confidence. 

We want Standard Life to be the business that people trust to guide their retirement journey, which means our focus is entirely on retirement savings and income. This lets us concentrate on unique solutions that put people at the centre of their retirement planning – an empathetic approach that reflects how clients actually live, not how the system assumes they do.  

Standard Life’s presence in Ireland has evolved over the years, from our early roots in investments to the strong foundation we hold today as retirement specialists. Our team has lived that journey end to end, and their experience has shaped the business that advisers and customers know so well. 

For years, Standard Life in Ireland has held a distinctive position in the market. Whether through our Second Life platform, our annual Bringing retirement into focus report, or our adviser led content and engagement, we’ve consistently championed the human side of financial planning. Our focus on retirement is not just a proposition; it’s a mindset. We’re proud of the success of the Irish approach to Second Life planning and the influence it has had on the overall group brand strategy, which aims to make Standard Life the retirement champion for modern life, helping people imagine the later life they want and live retired life their way.
 

Our place within group and international businesses

Being one part of a larger international group, our Irish business shapes and is shaped by the purpose, vision, and strategy of Standard Life plc. Within this structure, Standard Life in Ireland operates as part of Standard Life International dac – the entity that brings together our Irish and continental European businesses under one leadership team, headquartered in Dublin. 

Today, the Standard Life International business operates across multiple territories and languages, serving advisers in Ireland, Germany and Austria, and servicing customers in Ireland, Germany, Austria, Iceland, UK, Norway and Sweden. We help over 500,000 customers across these geographies on their journeys to and through retirement. 

We don’t underestimate the complexities involved, but the opportunities that come with scale and diverse teams are something that the European senior leadership team leans into. This team meets regularly and often aligns these meetings with Colleague Connect days or Second Life customer evenings. These moments allow leaders to meet colleagues, advisers and customers directly, to discuss the realities of planning for life after work.
 

Driven by a strong partnership with financial advisers

We know that for advisers, what matters is knowing that the partner standing behind you is consistent, dependable, and built for the long term. Standard Life has navigated changing markets, shifting regulations, and evolving customer expectations by staying clear on our purpose and by working sidebyside with the adviser community. As we enter this next chapter as Standard Life plc, our commitment remains unchanged: to be a consistent partner for the adviser community and a business customers trust to guide their retirement journey.