The chief executive of Standard Life, Sandy Crombie, has suggested that the insurer may sell off its underperforming banking business, which has been experiencing liquidity problems as a result of the credit crunch.It appears that the chief executive has dropped his performance targets for Standard Life Bank, despite showing a healthy set of profits for the business in general.Mr Crombie said of Standard Life Bank, which has 375,000 customers, that they understand profits have been affected by the higher cost of funding for the UK division and that if this were to worsen, they would look at possible new strategies for the bank.Mr Crombie has not divulged when Standard Life intends to announce their decision about the future of the bank. Last year, Standard Life Bank reported a pre-tax profits shortfall of 16 per cent to only £32 million.Standard Life has about £4.6 billion in savings and deposits and £11.3 billion in mortgage loans. Standard Life was set up in 1825. In the 1990s, the group sought to diversify its services to include Standard Life Bank, which was established in 1998, specialising in mortgages and retail savings.