Standard Life appoints Nick Johnson to drive growth in Retail Direct business

Standard Life appoints Nick Johnson to drive growth in Retail Direct business

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• Standard Life appoints Nick Johnson to drive growth in Retail Direct business

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Standard Life, the retirement specialist focused exclusively on retirement savings and income, has appointed Nick Johnson as Managing Director for Direct-to-Customer, within its Pensions and Savings business.

Nick joins Standard Life on 6 July from NatWest Group, where he spent 13 years in a range of senior roles, most recently as Managing Director, Digital Investing at Coutts. He brings more than 25 years of experience across pensions, investments and advice, delivering customer-centric propositions, driving commercial performance and leading cross-functional teams.

Reporting to Angela Byrne, CEO of Pensions & Savings, Nick joins the Pensions and Savings Leadership team. In his new role, he will focus on more closely aligning the group's customer proposition with its digital capabilities to deepen customer engagement, supporting Standard Life's ambition to become a top five player in the UK retail market. Nick's remit will incorporate Standard Life Financial Advice and Annuity Desk services, with Damian Cheater continuing to lead these areas.

Angela Byrne, CEO Pensions and Savings at Standard Life, said: "Nick's appointment further strengthens our Pensions and Savings leadership team at an important stage in the growth of our business. He brings a wealth of expertise in digitally enabled investing and will play a key role as we accelerate delivery, enhance customer engagement, and build momentum behind our growth plans."

Nick Johnson, Managing Director, Direct to Customer at Standard Life, said: "Standard Life has a clear focus on growing its retail business and a strong opportunity to further enhance the way it serves its customers directly. I am excited to be joining the business and look forward to working with the team to more closely align our customer proposition with our platform and digital capabilities, enabling us to move faster, innovate with confidence, and improve outcomes for customers."

Pensions & Savings is one of the two key business units within Standard Life and supports customers saving through their employer, with the help of a financial adviser or on their own through its Workplace, Retail Intermediary and Retail Direct trading channels respectively. Each of these markets is structurally growing and a strategic priority for Standard Life and, today, Pensions & Savings manages c.£212bn of assets on behalf of its customers.

Nick's appointment closely follows that of Gail Izat as Chief Operating Officer of Standard Life's Pensions and Savings business and Emma Furlonger as interim Managing Director of its Workplace and Retail Intermediary channels.

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About Standard Life

• Standard Life is a retirement specialist focused entirely on retirement saving and income.
• We are proud to manage around c£317bn in assets on behalf of our 12 million customers, and we champion the belief that everyone's journey to and through retirement can be better.
• With our focus entirely on retirement savings and income we want to be the business that people trust to guide their retirement journey, helping our customers achieve better outcomes and greater financial security in later life.
• As a FTSE 100-listed group we are using our size, expertise and influence to shape the world our customers will retire into, and are committed to helping three million more customers by 2035, take action towards a better retirement.
• Standard Life is a responsible investor with a clear commitment to supporting a more sustainable future. The Group has achieved its net zero goal across its emissions for 2025 and is working towards net zero investment portfolios by 2050 or sooner.
• Standard Life is recognised as a leading employer, with long-standing accreditation as a Living Wage Employer, Living Pension Employer and Carer Positive Exemplary Employer and in 2025 became one of Britain's Most Admired Companies in 2025.