£450 billion in managed funds salvages Scotland’s reputation for canny banking – Times Online

Fund management in Scotland has, almost unnoticed and in total contrast to the banking failure, boomed in the past year. The country’s three biggest managers have grown to look after nearly £450 billion of other people’s money, four times the size of the wealth annually produced by the entire Scottish economy.

The success has been led by Aberdeen Asset Management, which has overtaken Standard Life Investments (SLI) to become Scotland’s biggest fund manager, a landmark change in this sector of the Scottish financial industry.

This achievement is one of a number of success stories which have given rise to hope that Scotland’s financial industry can emerge from the financial crisis in better shape than was expected and which are spotlighted in a new business magazine published today by The Times.

Aberdeen now looks after £157 billion and its rise to the top of the Scottish pile after just 27 years in business is an unexpected success story in complete contrast to the failure of the country’s two biggest banks — RBS and HBOS.