Skeoch's 'activism' helps SLI take Scottish financial services award

STANDARD Life Investments (SLI) was last night named as the winner of the inaugural Scottish Financial Services Award for "promoting stewardship of investments" and "turning in an excellent performance".

The company beat off stiff competition from six other finalists to claim the prize, which was presented at the annual dinner held by trade body Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE).

The award - for which The Scotsman was the media partner - replaces SFE's "innovator" prizes, which ran until last year.

Mark Tennant, SFE's chairman, said: "Selecting only one winner was never going to be easy but I believe Standard Life Investments is a very deserving recipient of the first Scottish Financial Services Award.

"Through the leadership of Keith Skeoch, Standard Life Investments displays the kind of commitment, enthusiasm and innovative skills our industry relies on to be successful and compete internationally."

In his speech at the dinner, Tennant - a senior adviser to JP Morgan - praised the work of Scotland's asset servicing sector and called on it to compete with other financial centres such as Luxembourg and Dublin.

Skeoch, SLI's chief executive, told The Scotsman: "In terms of stewardship, we've been in the vanguard of trying to set the agenda following the financial crisis.

"We've been working with regulators and other firms to make sure this is an appropriate part of the policy agenda. For us, it isn't just a theoretical question - we've also been very practical in engaging with companies to make sure we get our message across about corporate governance and working with other investors to promote the 'long-termist' agenda.

"Where appropriate, we're holding companies to account for shareholders' rights, both behind the scenes and in public."

SLI was vocal at HSBC's annual meeting and in the sale of engineering firm Tomkins.

Hywel Ball, Scottish managing partner at accountancy firm Ernst & Young, which sponsored the award, said: "Special congratulations must be afforded to Keith Skeoch and his team at Standard Life Investments, but every one of our finalists should be recognised as innovators, visionaries and captains of industry in their own right."

The other finalists were Aberdeen Asset Management, Archangel Informal Investment, BlackRock, Citi and Morgan Stanley, FNZ and the Scottish Financial Risk Academy.