• Expanded investment options include external multi-asset funds
  • Easy access to cash through withdrawal facility, an increasing client imperative
  • Flexible wealth planning and trust compatibility
  • Secure digital dashboard to meet adviser servicing needs

Standard Life has re-entered the onshore investment bond market with the relaunch of its Tailored Investment Bond adding a range of fully modernised features that meet the evolving tax planning needs of advisers and clients.

Recent Budgets have posed new challenges for advisers and clients, reinvigorating interest in onshore bonds, as they look for smarter ways to tackle the changing Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and Inheritance Tax (IHT) landscape, and address emerging tax issues surrounding their clients’ affairs.

Providing tax deferred growth and not being subject to CGT while the bond is held, combined with the ability to place the bond in trust or to assign it and potentially avoid IHT charges, have become increasingly attractive features of the Tailored Investment Bond.

In the presence of tax efficient features, Standard Life research found advisers estimate around 40% of clients require a review of their existing plans with pensions being brought into scope of IHT from April 2027. Trusts and onshore and offshore bonds are the top non-pension products advisers expect to grow in popularity post the IHT rule change*.

The Standard Life Tailored Investment Bond, a tax efficient onshore bond, offers broad investment choice, including new external multi‑asset funds, and flexible access to withdrawals. It also provides strong wealth protection and estate‑planning capability, with fully digital online servicing to support advisers and clients.

Enhanced Choice, flexibility, and tax efficiency

Standard Life has expanded the bond’s investment range with the addition of several external multi-asset funds from HSBC & Vanguard, CT Threadneedle and L&G & BNY Mellon**. This broadens its appeal to advisers and clients looking to manage volatility as demand for investment bond solutions increases, driven by the changing regulatory environment. The bond also gives investors access to a wide range of asset classes comprising equities, managed funds, property, and money market instruments.

The minimum investment required is £15K and top-ups start from £2.5K, and regular withdrawals are available up to 10% of the original investment each year, with the first 5% being on a tax-deferred basis. Fund switching is available penalty-free, providing flexibility to manage investment strategies as market conditions evolve giving advised clients greater control over their investment.

The ability to place the Bond in Trust adds further appeal to advisers by supporting estate planning and wealth transfer strategies as clients increasingly look to preserve and pass on wealth.

Adviser Charging:

Adviser charging is supported for both initial and ongoing advice, which can be taken from the bond as a withdrawal, maintaining the integrity of the bond as a tax-efficient investment.

Standard Life has also streamlined servicing options for advisers through the fully digitalised online capability of its Dash servicing dashboard. It provides full transparency over fees and charges to support compliant client servicing, the management of adviser charging as well as facilitating easy management of client portfolios.

Warren Bright, Head of Retail Intermediary and Private Client Distribution at Standard Life, said: “The advice market is adjusting to some of the most disruptive changes in recent memory with alterations to IHT and CGT requiring advisers to realign retirement strategies for clients. This has seen a resurgence in interest in onshore bonds and the underlying tax efficiencies they provide.

“Using our bond market expertise, the Tailored Investment Bond development now sits alongside our well-established International Bond, to provide a comprehensive range of solutions that meet the increasing wealth protection and estate planning needs of advisers.”

Standard Life also continues to develop its technical support for advisers through webinars, consultancy, articles and commentaries.

-Ends-

Media enquiries

For further information, photos, video content or interviews, contact:

Darragh Leeson
darragh.leeson@standardlife.com
+44770 7270001

Samuel Woods
samuel.woods@thephoenixgroup.com
+44797 7844297

Notes to editors

* Research conducted by Opinium on behalf of Standard Life among 200 IFAs, 5-12th November 2025.
** The L&G Multi Index and BNY Mellon multi-asset funds are schedule for integration to the Tailored Investment Bond in February 2026
 

About Standard Life

  • Standard Life is a brand that has been trusted to look after peoples’ life savings for over 200 years.
  • Today it proudly serves millions of customers who come to Standard Life directly, through advisers and through their employers’ pension scheme.
  • Standard Life is part of Phoenix Group, one of the largest long-term savings and retirement business in the UK. We’re proud to be building on 200 years of Standard Life heritage together. Our products include a variety of Pensions, Bonds and Retirement options to suit people’s needs, helping our customers to invest and save for their future. We’re proud to offer a leading range of sustainable and responsible investment options.
  • We support our customers on their journey to and through retirement with comprehensive, easy-to-understand guidance so they can invest in the right way for their needs and plan a future they feel confident about.
  • The value of investments can go down as well as up and may be worth less than originally invested.

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