In the boardrooms of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management, the tunes have just begun playing for a six-month game of musical chairs. And at the end, only half the bosses will have seats.

If the two firms' £11.3 billion merger goes ahead as planned, it is likely there will be room for 12 of the two firms' 24 directors on the combined board. Some key leaders, not least chief executives Keith Skeoch and Martin Gilbert, will stay on, the companies said on March 6.