Do With-Profit Bonds present an offshore opportunity?

Recent investigation of the with-profit bond book here at AEGON Scottish Equitable revealed that around a third of policyholders are taking withdrawals from their bonds. If this trend extends across the whole industry, then many clients are depending on this ‘income’. In many instances, that ‘income’ level will have been set at around 5% per year. In the past, this may have been a sensible level as bonus rates were above that level. But what about today? Few, if any, of the with-profits bonds are paying out a rate of over 5%. This means the client is taking withdrawals which are not being...