Gosling's Grouse: The big surprise is Aberdeen didn't target a passives provider

The implications of Aberdeen/Standard Life merger

It should not have come as a huge shock to hear Aberdeen was on the lookout for another game-changing deal now it has largely digested the SWIP acquisition.

What did surprise me though is the next big move is not for a passive/ETF provider - because there is enough of them with 'for sale' signs and that is surely what a business like Aberdeen needs? In a low return, high regulatory cost, reduced fee world, surely copying the BlackRock model is the way to go? After all, a number of groups do offer both active and passive, while the grandaddy of index investing - Vanguard - has a small but very well-formed suite of active funds. The world has moved away from passive versus active to either 'full service' or 'specialist'. We often call speci...