Barclays is all set to acquire the banking subsidiary of Standard Life, an Edinburgh based insurance and pension firm, in a ?226 Million deal, post which all employees currently working for the Scottish bank will be transferred to one of UK's largest banking institutions.

In a deal which is expected to reach a closure in the first quarter of the coming year, Barclays will be taking over Standard's ?5.5 Billion savings book and ?8.8 Billion mortgage book. Standard Life began functioning in 1998 and has always been counted among the top telephone banking firms of Scotland. Recent economic crisis and plunges in house prices, however, adversely affected the firm which recently reported a 70% slip.

“The rationale behind the deal is that we get a high quality mortgage book with a 48% loan value – very important these days – and we also get 350,000 broadly affluent customers, most of whom are in Scotland, which of course will be added to the 13 million customers we have already across the UK", explained a Barclays spokeswoman.

While the deal has received both positive and negative reviews, what will actually happen remains to be seen. Barclays and Standard Life are, meanwhile, planning on entering an agreement wherein both firms will join hands to explore opportunities in UK's retail long-term savings and investments market.