Crombie hints at Stan Life Bank sale

Announcing Standard Life’s highly successful financial results, chief executive Sandy Crombie confirmed that Standard Life Bank is suffering from the higher costs of funding and that it had hit profitability. Standard Life Bank’s profits fell by 16% in 2007 to £32m. The banking arm is particularly affected by the high cost of borrowing as it has just £4.6bn in customer deposits and around £11.3bn in mortgage loans. When commenting on the results of Standard Life Bank, Crombie is reported as saying that high borrowing costs are hitting profits and confirmed that if the bank cannot hit prof...