As we reach the halfway point of 2026, we can reflect on what has been an exciting start to the year for our business - and this edition marks our first quarterly bulletin as Standard Life Corporate Investment Solutions, signaling the start of a new chapter for CIS under the Standard Life brand.
In this edition, we’re sharing more on our recent rebrand, celebrating industry recognition, and highlighting some of the collaborations and conversations helping to drive meaningful progress across the market.
Our rebrand - a new chapter
This quarter, we rebranded from Phoenix Corporate Investment Services to Standard Life Corporate Investment Solutions (CIS), aligning more closely with the Standard Life brand and the strength of our FTSE 100 parent company.
Our new name also reflects how our role has evolved: from services provider to solutions builder - working with clients as a strategic partner to help them navigate an increasingly complex and fast‑moving pensions landscape, with a clear focus on improving outcomes for savers and pension scheme members.
While our name has changed, what we do - and how we support our clients - remains the same. We continue to provide a market-leading institutional investment platform that’s designed to meet the evolving needs of our clients and their advisors. And our continued independence means they can be confident in how we deliver for them - with their interests at the heart of everything we do.
Celebrating industry recognition
We were delighted to be named Institutional Investment Platform Provider of the Year at the UK Pensions Awards for the second year running - a fantastic way to mark the start of our new chapter.
The judges described our entry as an “exceptional submission”, recognising the strength of our platform, the progress we’ve made over the past year, and the way we continue to evolve our offering alongside our clients and partners.
This recognition reflects the collective effort behind what we do - and the role that collaboration across the industry continues to play in delivering better outcomes for savers. We’re proud to be playing our part.
Bringing the industry together - PMI roundtable
At the PMI DC & Master Trust Symposium in April, we hosted a lunchtime roundtable focused on innovation without complexity - and how DC investment strategies can evolve while remaining practical, accessible and effective for members.
The discussion explored how innovation can strengthen resilience and improve member outcomes, with practical examples including diversification into private markets, clearer default retirement pathways, and the use of technology and AI to support decision making.
A clear theme throughout was the importance of identifying where innovation genuinely adds value - and how to future‑proof DC strategies in a way that remains simple, robust and ultimately supports better outcomes.
You can read the write up in the June edition of Pensions Aspects magazine.
Spotlight on DB schemes – strengthening governance
We also joined Capita for a roundtable exploring the challenges facing smaller DB pension schemes, with discussion centred on how these schemes can navigate increasing governance and decision‑making challenges while progressing towards their chosen endgame.
A key part of the session was the introduction of Capita’s new Arc platform, which brings together AI, governance, actuarial and investment capabilities in a single solution - with CIS providing the investment insights to support more informed and timely decision making.
This is a strong example of how collaboration across the industry can bring together complementary expertise to develop practical, integrated solutions. Arc will undoubtedly help DB schemes to manage complexity, strengthen governance and move forward with greater clarity and confidence.
Client spotlight: Powering the next wave of pension innovation
Our recent case study highlights how our partnership with Quai Digital is supporting the next wave of pension innovation - combining digital-first thinking with robust investment and operational infrastructure.
As new entrants bring fresh, app‑based ideas to market, there’s a growing need to balance engaging customer experiences with the strength and reliability required to operate at scale. By combining our investment and operational infrastructure with Quai’s administration, governance and modern API capabilities, we create the strong, dependable foundations these propositions need to launch confidently and grow over time.
Our partnership with Quai brings together complementary capabilities, enabling innovation to move from concept to reality. You can read more in our full case study here.
Looking ahead
Following the success of last year’s event, we’ll be hosting our next Pensions Masterclass on Thursday 1 October, bringing together clients, partners and industry experts to share insights, exchange perspectives and explore how we can continue to shape the future of pensions together. Look out for further details over the coming weeks.
We’re also looking forward to welcoming new clients onto the platform and working with them to implement and evolve their investment strategies in line with their changing needs.
If you don’t already, you can follow us on LinkedIn to stay up to date with our latest news, insights and upcoming events.