High street bank Virgin Money is set to buy Abrdn’s stake in their joint investment business for a cool £20m. This comes less than a year after it was introduced to customers.
In 2019, Virgin Money teamed up with Abrdn to launch Virgin Money Investments. This service expanded its offerings beyond the usual savings and loans.
They launched an online platform with a mobile app last April. This platform allows people to choose from a variety of investments.
Later, they even added a new pension product which lets people start saving from just £25 a month. You can also move your existing pensions onto this platform.
By the end of last year, Virgin Money Investments had managed assets worth about £3.7 billion. They also had more than 150,000 customer accounts.
With around 6.6 million UK customers, Virgin Money believes that buying Abrdn’s 50% stake will aid its growth plans. They hope to double the number of assets under management within five years.
Allegra Patrizi, the managing director for business and commercial at the bank, said: “Our joint venture with Abrdn has successfully delivered a new investment service offering simple and straightforward investment options for customers.”
“Taking full control of Virgin Money Investments will mean we can bring the investments and pensions business together with our deposits, mortgages, credit cards and daily banking, enabling us to help more customers feel confident to invest for the future and driving significant growth in assets under management.”
The bank plans to transfer all employees from the investment branch into Virgin Money without expecting any job losses.
Abrdn will still offer investment advice for the platform.
