Phoenix has revealed plans for the Standard Life brand it bought from Abrdn earlier this year in an acceleration of the strategic partnership the firms originally entered to after the £3.3bn deal Phoenix made for Standard Life Assurance in 2018.

As part of the plans for the brand, Phoenix's bulk annuity purchase and equity release businesses will rebrand to Standard Life, while a range of retail lifetime mortgage products will also fall under the Standard Life Home Finance brand.

Phoenix now owns the Standard Life brand and marketing, which means life customers of Standard Life have their end-to-end customer experience managed by Phoenix. A further 60 employees joined Phoenix as part of the deal acceleration earlier this year.

Standard Life chief executive Andy Curran said: "Standard Life is one of the most recognised names in life and pensions and we have ambitious investment plans built on its great heritage. With the capital and financial strength of Phoenix Group, and Standard Life's extensive expertise in pensions and retirement, our ambition is to create an even more customer centric business with sustainability at its core."

Phoenix also said the "look and feel" of the Standard Life brand will change through a series of subtle changes in brand style. It said the "visual identity and tone of voice" will be modernised.

Curran added: "Accelerating our proposition innovation is central to this investment, from delivering better retirement income solutions using the strength of our Group balance sheet to further harnessing data and digital technology to provide more timely and relevant information to customers.

The investment we are making in our propositions and digital channels will allow us to deliver broader retirement options and make Standard Life relevant to even more customers and advisers now and in the years to come."