Aberdeen Standard Investments Inc. (Philadelphia)


Aberdeen Standard Investments Inc. is a large advisory firm based in Philadelphia. It manages $39.36 billion of regulatory assets for 362 client accounts. It has been registered with the SEC as an adviser since 2019 and has operated in the jurisdictions of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, and 48 other states.

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Aberdeen Standard Investments provides portfolio management for individuals and small businesses, portfolio management for investment companies, portfolio management for pooled investment vehicles, and portfolio management for businesses and institutional clients. It doesn't provide financial planning services to its clients. On top of advisory services, the firm doesn't engage in other business activities.

Aberdeen Standard Investments: assets under management

The assets under management (AUM) of Aberdeen Standard Investments Inc. is $39.36 billion. The firm's AUM has grown by 0% since the beginning of its operation, and $6.45 billion of the total AUM is attributable to clients outside of the United States.


The firm manages $29.08 billion in discretionary accounts and $10.28 billion in non-discretionary accounts. On average, the discretionary accounts where all decisions are made on behalf of the client hold $81.01 million each. Non-discretionary accounts, where clients actively manage their portfolios, generally hold around $3.43 billion.
Aberdeen Standard Investments has custody of $6.34 billion in cash and securities for 20 clients in total but doesn’t act as a qualified custodian.

Investments

The firm invests in pooled investment vehicles the most. They account for 62% of the total AUM. The second-largest asset type is exchange traded securities, which make up 18% of the firm’s portfolio. Investments in sovereign bonds form 7% of the total invested assets.

Fees & Commissions

The advisory firm has several streams of revenue. Clients pay Aberdeen Standard Investments Inc. for their services and products based on a percentage of assets under management, fixed fees, and performance-based fees. Flat-fee based compensation is the most transparent and the one you can safely predict in advance. These fees don’t include brokerage commissions, interest, taxes, and other account expenses.

What kind of clients Jennifer Ann Nichols serves?

The firm provides services to insurance companies, investment companies, charitable organizations, high net worth individuals, pooled investment vehicles, corporations or other businesses, pension and profit sharing plans, and state or municipal government entities. The largest group of clients of Jennifer Ann Nichols is state or municipal government entities with 19 clients and $13.92 billion of assets under management. Among the 8 most similar advisory firms, Aberdeen Standard Investments has the highest percentage of state or municipal government entities out of all clients.


The amount of regulatory assets under management is $39.35 billion for 148 clients that can include trusts, estates, and 401(k) plans and IRAs of individuals and their family members. 36% of the firm’s clients are foreign persons or businesses.

Aberdeen Standard Investments also advises several private funds. Namely, five hedge funds, one real estate fund, and fifteen other private funds. The minimum investment commitment required of non-related persons ranges from $0 to $10,000,000.

Careers at Aberdeen Standard Investments Inc.

The company employs 422 people that are either part- or full-time employees. 23 percent of the employees work as investment advisers or researchers. No employees are registered as investment adviser representatives with the state securities authorities.

There are 5 people with the role of looking for and bringing in new clients on behalf of the firm. The firm doesn’t compensate employees in addition to the salary for bringing in new clients. Employees don’t receive compensation from other entities for client referrals.

Jennifer Ann Nichols has been acting as President since 1 Jul 2007. Joseph Bernard Andolina joined the executive team most recently as the Chief Compliance Officer.

Direct owners and executive officers



Name Entity Date acquired Ownership Employer ID
Aberdeen Asset Management Plc Shareholder 1 Jan 1994 75% - 100% n/a
Jennifer Ann Nichols Director 1 Jul 2007 Other 5376493
Alan Robin Goodson Director 1 Jul 2009 Other 4492919
Jeffrey Lawrence Cotton Director 1 Nov 2010 Other 4713561
Beverley (Nmn) Hendry Chairman 1 Sep 2014 Other 4375005
Christopher Thomas Demetriou Chief executive officer 1 Sep 2015 Other 6564801
Joseph Bernard Andolina Chief compliance officer 1 Mar 2018 Other 6931174

Indirect Owners

The SEC currently registers 1 indirect owner.

Name Entity Date acquired Ownership Employer ID
Standard Life Aberdeen Plc Shareholder 1 Aug 2017 75% - 100% n/a

Based in Philadelphia

The principal office where Aberdeen Standard Investments Inc. performs its advisory services is located at 1900 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, which is also the mailing address of the firm. An additional office of the firm is in Stamford, CT. It doesn’t run an office outside of the United States.

You can reach the main office by calling the phone number 215-405-5700. The normal business hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Monday - Friday. You can find more information about the New York firm at aberdeen-asset.ca.