Angela Byrne has been appointed as CEO of Standard Life’s pension and savings business.

Ms Byrne replaces Colin Williams who has been instrumental in turning Phoneix Group from a closed book consolidator to a customer focused business.

His tenure included the recent launch of flat-fee financial advice service, Standard Life Financial Advice, which is designed to meet the needs of customers looking for retirement advice.

She joins from NatWest where she spent 20 years, most recently as interim CEO of the retail bank.

She will join Standard Life in January 2026, and will be responsible for spearheading growth, reporting to group CEO Andy Briggs.

Angela Byrne said: “I am delighted to be joining at such an exciting time. Phoenix serves 12 million customers and plays a crucial role in helping them plan for their future. I am looking forward to working with the team to innovate and deliver the best Phoenix offers for our customers.”

The business is one of two key units within Phoenix Group, and trades under the Standard Life brand. It includes its workplace, retail intermediary and retail direct trading channels and manages around £190bn of assets on behalf of its customers.

Phoenix Group acquired Standard Life Assurance from Standard Life Aberdeen for £2.9bn in 2018.

In September Phoenix announced that it will rebrand fully as Standard Life from March.

The business has more than £295bn of assets under administration and around 12m pensions, savings and life insurance customers.

The company has been around in one form or another for more than 240 years with the name Phoenix Assurance being established in 1782. However the Phoenix Group brand has only existed for 15 years.

Phoenix Assurance was one of many old brands bought by Resolution Life, which was formed in 2004 to provide a vehicle for life funds that had been closed to new business. Its first purchases were Royal & SunAlliance and Swiss Life's UK business.

Resolution was taken over by the Pearl Group in 2008 and rebranded as Phoenix Group 2010. Phoenix Group acquired Standard Life Assurance from Standard Life Aberdeen for £2.9bn in 2018.