AJ Bell Investcentre has launched a discretionary loan trust designed to help advisers support clients with inheritance tax and estate planning needs.
It follows the launch of a discretionary gift trust and absolute gift trust for use with AJ Bell Investcentre general investment accounts in December.
AJ Bell worked with Technical Connection to develop the trust deeds that provide advisers with access to flexible, open architecture solutions as more families are brought into the scope of inheritance tax.
Research from AJ Bell and Ad Lucem found that 63% of advisers view inheritance tax and estate planning as an important or critical part of their proposition, while four in five advised clients say inheritance tax planning is an important part of the advice they expect.
Three quarters (76%) of advisers also stated they would value access to open architecture investing through a general investment account, coupled with a range of trusts with full provider support.
The discretionary loan trust is now available on the AJ Bell Investcentre advised platform and can be used with general investment accounts.
AJ Bell said it plans to launch its first onshore bond link in due course.
Mark Rendle, advised product director at AJ Bell, said: “It is no secret that advisers need a range of tools and investments to plan tax efficiently for clients, particularly when guiding them through the increasingly complex estate planning process.
“That is why we have launched our third trust in a matter of months, providing advisers with an even wider range of investment options to protect client wealth and improve the intergenerational wealth transfer process.”
Tony Wickenden, managing director of Technical Connection, added: “Tax effective estate planning that gives clients control and access of the underlying investments is well served for those with investable cash by a wide range of excellent investment bond and trust combinations.
“We believe that investment choice should not be restricted when a trust is appropriate, and all of the trusts and a wide range of supporting documents come with detailed adviser and client facing guides to their legal and taxation treatment to aid that process.”
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