Standard Life (SL) is one of the largest pension (traditional and unit-linked), long-term savings and investment providers in the UK with over 4m costumers. In Canada SL is one of the top 5 life and pension savings companies with over 1.4m retail and corporate customers. The company is also present in Germany, Ireland and Hong Kong. The group has a capital surplus of £3.8bn which gives a solvency cover of 205% (down from 230% in 2009) and at the moment SL is preparing to meet Solvency II reqirements (due Jan 2013). This may hinder expansion in the short run so the company is looking into expanding its existing joint ventures in China and India instead of seeking business in new markets. However, most focus will still be on strengthening the existing customer base in the UK and Canada. SL also believes there is a substantial pension savings gap in the home market. This, coupled with an increasingly ageing population (the company calculates there will be 3.5m people over 85 by 2034 in the UK alone) and auto-enrolment gives the company opportunities to increase sales.