The vice chairman of Standard Life Aberdeen, Martin Gilbert has announced he will leave the company after nearly four decades with the business.

The chairman of Aberdeen's investment arm said he will not be standing for re-election at the company's annual shareholder meeting in May next year - 14 months after he stood down as the firm's chief executive.

He said: "It has been an incredible journey, almost unimaginable from the earliest days when we were just three people in one office in Aberdeen with £50m under management to today's total in excess of £500bn."

Mr Gilbert is co-founder of Aberdeen Asset Management, running the firm since 1983, and was instrumental in its merger with Standard Life in 2017.

However, since then the company has struggled to win round shareholders.

The merger came as asset management firms were being squeezed and fees were being reduced with increased competition.

Mr Gilbert will leave at the end of September 2020.

Chairman Sir Douglas Flint said: "It is impossible to overstate Martin's achievement in building Aberdeen Asset Management into a truly global and widely respected investment firm.

"His ability to attract talent to deliver that success and his unrelenting commitment to the firm's clients leaves a legacy of which he should be immensely proud and which serves as a solid foundation for our future success.

"His foresight to see the opportunities that led to the combination that created Standard Life Aberdeen and his tireless efforts to realise these opportunities post-merger are hugely valued by all his colleagues who now take up the responsibility to deliver on them."