Standard Life: Mutual issue

Taking a company out of mutualisation has been a popular wheeze. It may be more difficult to take the mutual out of the company. Two former mutual insurers - Friends Provident and Standard Life, which threw in the towel on Sunday - have failed to seal tie-ups with rival Resolution. They look the latest examples of organisations used to ownership by policyholders struggling in the more testing waters of the stock market. The trouble isn’t so much letting Resolution slip through their fingers. Ev...