Welcome to our first bulletin of 2026. It’s already been a productive start to the year, with meaningful developments across the wider business and continued momentum for our investment platform.
In this edition, we’re highlighting recent awards success, sharing insights from key industry events, and providing an update on our annual client survey - including how your feedback is helping shape the way we support our clients and partners. We’re also introducing our latest fund launches and offering a forward look at what’s coming next.
Let’s dive into the latest updates from the past few months.
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Awards Success
We were delighted to win the Innovation (Investment) Award at this year’s Pensions Age Awards - a great acknowledgement of the work we’ve delivered for our clients and partners over the past 12 months.
Our partners TPT Retirement Solutions and AllianceBernstein were also recognised for our joint development of Managed Income for Life, taking home At‑Retirement Solutions Provider of the Year and DC Investment Manager of the Year respectively.
Our colleagues in the wider organisation were celebrated too, with the workplace business winning Master Trust Offering of the Year.
A fantastic result across the board, and a real reflection of the value of partnership and innovation in our industry.
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Listening to our Clients: Highlights from our Annual Client Survey
Thank you to all our clients who took part in the 2026 CIS Client Survey. Your feedback continues to play a central role in shaping how we work and where we focus our improvements.
This year, we were pleased to receive an overall satisfaction score of 9.5/10, alongside consistently strong feedback across the areas that matter most to you. These included the accuracy and timeliness of our reporting (9.3/10), relationship management experience (9.6/10) and the professionalism of our people (9.8/10).
The survey also highlighted several areas where you told us we’ve made meaningful year‑on‑year progress. These include enhancements to our range of funds (up from 9.1 to 9.5), increased flexibility of our services (8.7 to 9.2) and further improvement in our commitment to deliver on our promises (9.2 to 9.6). These gains reflect changes we’ve made directly in response to your feedback.
Thank you again for your continued partnership and insight. We’ll keep using your feedback to strengthen the services and solutions we provide.
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Industry Events
This quarter, our Head of CIS, Jess Williams, and Strategic Relations & Business Development Manager, Kieron Snow, attended the Pensions UK Investment Conference - a valuable opportunity for the industry to come together to explore some of the key themes currently shaping the pensions investment landscape.
Discussions covered a broad range of topics, including whether growth and scale will drive better outcomes for savers, the evolving choices facing DB schemes, and how run‑on is becoming a practical option for well‑funded schemes exploring surplus extraction. There was also important debate around climate risk, sustainability, and ongoing developments in Retirement CDC and wider CDC design.
It was a fantastic event and a great example of the industry working together to shape what comes next for savers.
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Enhancing our Fund Range for DB Schemes
We continue to strengthen our fund range to support DB schemes with the tools they need to implement effective LDI and buy‑and‑maintain strategies. As an established platform partner in the DB market, we are expanding both our suite of investment options and our platform capabilities to meet the evolving needs of trustees and their advisers.
This quarter, we’ve added new LDI and gilt‑based funds from Columbia Threadneedle and Legal & General, giving schemes greater choice in how they manage their liabilities. We’ll also be adding a suite of Insight strategies shortly, further broadening the options available.
Taken together, these enhancements support schemes as they move towards endgame - whether that means preparing for buy‑out or running on.
You can view the full list of available funds - including all recent additions - in our latest fund list .
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A New Chapter: Phoenix Group changes its name to Standard Life
This quarter marks an important milestone, as our parent company Phoenix Group has now become Standard Life plc. This move brings the group’s most trusted brand to the forefront and supports our vision to become the UK’s leading retirement savings and income business.
For Phoenix CIS, our structure and the way we operate remain unchanged. We continue to be a fully ring‑fenced and independently managed business unit, delivering specialist investment platform services to institutional and wealth clients with the same team and client‑focused approach.
Later this year, Phoenix CIS will also move to the Standard Life brand. We’ll share full details closer to the time, but we’re excited about the opportunities this alignment brings - strengthening our position in market while preserving the independence and agility our clients value.
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Looking ahead
As we move through 2026, we’re looking forward to an active and ambitious year for the platform business as we begin our transition to the Standard Life brand.
In addition, we continue to strengthen our partnerships across the workplace and wider pensions market. This includes ongoing collaboration with wealth managers and SIPP providers as we help bring innovative, engaging new pension propositions to market to solve many of the challenges that savers face today.
There’s much more to come over the next few months. If you’d like to stay up to date with our latest news and insights, follow us on LinkedIn .