Standard Life, Britain’s fifth-largest insurer, is drawing up plans for a new business subsidiary to sell potentially lucrative investment services to the super-rich.

The plan is to target high-net-worth individuals in Britain and overseas seeking to invest a one-off lump sum. It would also boost efforts by Sandy Crombie, the chief executive, to sell higher-margin products.

It is thought that investment services would be marketed through specialist advisers under the Standard Life umbrella, although it may also come up with a special brand. This would be similar to the Friends Provident-owned Lombard insurer that sells structured, tax-efficient financial products to wealthy customers.

Mr Crombie, who demutualised the company and listed its shares last year, is keen to change the perception of the Edinburgh-based group from that of a traditional insurance and savings provider to a more flexible, and “premium-rate” asset manager.

A spokesman said: “Standard Life is continually looking at opportunities in the area of high-net-worth business across the group.”

Standard Life has built its recent success around self-invested personal pensions (Sipps), made more attractive for savers in the wake of changes to pension legislation introduced last year.

It operated about £5.3 billion of Sipps funds as at the end of March and told analysts at an investor presentation late last month that it believed this was a winning formula.

Trevor Matthews, the head of the insurer’s new retail division in the UK, said that the Sipps model could easily be scaled up if necessary as well as taken into new geographies. The group already operates in Ireland.

The average amount invested in a Standard Life Sipp is £170,000, with the highest amount so far invested touching £14 million.

Standard Life has made big strides to reduce its emphasis on lower-value policies. Executives point out that the insurer has slashed commission payments on single-charge pension products and become more fee-based in its approach.

Times Recommends

• C&G axed - 1,660 jobs to be lost
• UK house prices rise 1.1% as buyers return
• Mixed reaction to US banks repaying bailouts