Pensions giant Phoenix Group has underlined the growth potential of the Standard Life business it acquired from the group which subsequently changed its name to abrdn, following a strong showing by the operation in the latest year.

Phoenix chief executive Andy Briggs highlighted his belief in the value of the Standard Life brand as he said the group expects to achieve strong organic growth, despite concerns about the outlook for the economy.

“We will do this through both meeting more of the evolving needs of our existing customers on their journey to and through retirement, and by acquiring new customers, primarily through our trusted Standard Life brand,” said Mr Briggs.

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His comments reflect Phoenix’s belief that Edinburgh-based Standard Life is well placed to capitalise on the increase in demand for pensions and other “retirement solutions” that is expected as the UK population ages and people are required to take more responsibility for saving for retirement.

Phoenix said it expects to generate significant amounts of additional cash this year as a result of new business won through Standard Life-branded businesses. This will be more than sufficient to offset the impact of the decline in business associated with closed pension books it acquired in the past.

By way of example, Phoenix noted that Standard Life’s Workplace business is expected to deliver a strong performance in 2022, with positive net fund flows of around £2 billion, compared with £0.2bn last year.

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Phoenix said Standard Life had won 68 new workplace schemes in 2022, with aggregate assets of around £2bn on behalf of around 47,000 members.

“The group is now winning in all parts of the market across small, medium and large schemes,” noted Phoenix. “These wins, together with a strong pipeline of future opportunities, firmly re-establishes Standard Life as a major player in the Workplace market.”

Standard Life’s success could be good news for the jobs market in Edinburgh, where it is a major employer. The business has about 3,000 people in the city.

Phoenix initially focused on consolidating closed life and pension books. It made a big move into the open book business through the acquisition of the Standard Life pensions and life assurance business for £3.2bn in 2018. Phoenix bought the business from the Standard Life Aberdeen group. This was formed through the merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management in 2017.

After deciding to focus on asset management, Standard Life Aberdeen changed its names to abrdn in July last year.