Standard Life Group announced today it is shedding 1,000 jobs as part of its strategic review, and added it plans to change its ownership structure.

The Edinburgh-based company also said that its Canadian operations, the largest of the group’s overseas businesses, will be retained within the Group and further developed.

“Standard Life’s Canadian Operations will pursue its
business plan that has allowed our sales to increase 19% year to date over last year,” Claude Garcia, president of Montreal-based Standard Life Assurance Co., said in a news release. “We will continue to develop and deliver outstanding products to meet the long-term financial needs of our customers.”

Standard Life Assurance and affiliates have $33.1 billion in assets under management.

The job cuts will affect the Edinburgh-based company’s U.K. life and pensions business and represent about 20% of staff in the division. Standard Life employs 14,500 people worldwide, including 11,000 in Britain.

In a release, Standard Life said the life and pensions business to be repositioned to achieve profitable growth.

The group, which is a mutual company owned by its members, said it planned to change its ownership structure to ensure access to “further external capital in the years ahead.”

“Demutualization will maximize the value of the company and enable it to deliver performance, reduce risk and crystallize value for members,” Standard Life said.

It gave no details of what the new ownership structure would be but said it would present a proposal to members at the 2006 annual general meeting.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said today that its ratings on Standard Life (Standard Life; A+/Negative/A-1) and its subsidiaries are unaffected by the company’s demutualization proposal.

It noted that Standard Life also confirmed its realistic balance-sheet surplus of £4.6 billion, following an independent review.

It added that the strong actions taken by Standard Life management to significantly reduce equity risk in the balance sheet, the rapid progress with the strategic review, combined with reassurance over the realistic capital position are viewed positively.

S&P said that it’s negative outlook for Standard Life reflects the risks associated with the demutualization process, and the risks to Standard Life’s franchise from the repositioning of the group’s core U.K. life and pensions business.

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