MONTREAL, April 18 2011 – Standard Life announces two new features to its group savings and retirement offering to Canadian publicly listed companies: stock and stock options plans administration solutions. The first feature enables employees to make online withdrawals from their stock plan directly from the VIP Room, Standard Life’s transactional website. The second feature allows employers to access a variety of stock option arrangements that will help their employees administer and exercise options.
Standard Life understands that more and more public companies are looking for a provider that has the ability to deliver comprehensive solutions in benefit and in pension management, including stock and stock options plans.
“These two new features set Standard Life apart in the Canadian group savings and retirement market. We believe we’re the first to offer a single point of contact for plan members to access all the details they need to actively manage their retirement plan – including stock plan transactions,” said Louise Pellerin-Lacasse, Vice-President, Product Development and Management at Standard Life. “We know that people have little time to spend planning for retirement and this is what has been driving us to enhance our offer. We aim to develop tools that make things easier and more efficient for everyone.”
The integration of the new stock option plan feature is made possible through an arrangement with Buck Consultants Limited, a company recognized worldwide as an innovator in the areas of retirement consulting, pension and benefits administration, equity based plan solutions, health and productivity programs, talent and human resource management, compensation, and employee communication. Buck is a wholly owned subsidiary of ACS, A Xerox Company.
About Standard Life
Standard Life plc is a leading long-term savings and investment company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. Standard Life has around 6 million customers worldwide and operates in the United Kingdom, Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, and globally with Standard Life Investments.
In Canada, Standard Life has been doing business for 178 years. Standard Life Financial Inc., which wholly owns The Standard Life Assurance Company of Canada and Standard Life Mutual Funds Ltd., is Standard Life plc’s largest operation outside the UK. With about 2,000 employees, it provides long-term saving, investment and insurance solutions to more than 1.4 million Canadians, including group insurance and retirement plan members.
As of December 31, 2010, Standard Life plc had C$306 billion in assets under administration, including C$39 billion in Canada through Standard Life Financial. www.standardlife.ca
