Royal Bank Personal Pension

The Royal Bank Invest Pension is designed to help you plan for your future by investing for your retirement in a tax-efficient way.

Your money is looked after by a team of experienced investment managers at Coutts and Co. Embark provides and operates your pension. 

If you are employed, you should consider whether it would be better for you to join your employer’s pension scheme if you haven’t done so already.

Only you can make contributions to your Royal Bank Invest Pension. Employers and other third parties are not permitted to make contributions.

You must be over the age of 18 and under the age of 75 and be a UK resident for tax purposes. You cannot make contributions if you are a US citizen or US Green Card holder.

Your investments would be protected even if Royal Bank failed. The underlying assets within each of the Personal Portfolio Funds available through Royal Bank Invest are held separately from Royal Bank by an independent company called a depositary, which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and dual-regulated by the PRA and Financial Conduct Authority. 

This company, the Bank of New York Mellon (International) London Branch, keeps the Personal Portfolio Funds’ underlying assets safe and holds them separately from its own. 

Additionally, the Personal Portfolio Funds are based in the UK and so are covered by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), up to a maximum of £85,000 per person.

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Yes, but not until you are age 55. This is expected to increase to age 57 from 2028. The Royal Bank Invest Pension allows you to either:

• Withdraw all your pension savings as a one-off payment. Some will be tax free. The rest may be taxable depending on your circumstances.
• Use the money to purchase an annuity and take anything left over as a one-off payment.

If you want to access your pension differently, for example through flexible drawdown, you can transfer your pension to another scheme. 

Yes you can, but please consider any special features or conditions with your current pension before doing so.

Special features your pension might have which you'll lose if you transfer it to us include:

• Guaranteed annuity rates
• Waiver of premium benefit 
• Guaranteed rates of return or income in retirement
• Tax free cash over 25%
• Access to your pension pot before age 55

Conditions that might reduce your transfer amount:

• You're invested in a with profits fund and a 'market value reduction' is applied before the transfer
• Your pension provider makes a charge for the transfer

What happens if I die before the age of 75?

If you die before age 75, the value of your pension investments may be paid to your beneficiaries as a lump sum. The benefits will normally be tax-free as long as they are paid within two years of your death.

If the total value of all of your pension pots, including the Royal Bank Invest Personal Pension Account, exceeds your Lifetime Allowance, your beneficiaries may have to pay an additional tax charge.

What happens if I die after age 75?

If you die after age 75, the value of your pension can still be passed to your beneficiaries. This will be subject to income tax, and you will need to refer to the relevant bandings and charges for the applicable tax year.

The five ready-made investment funds available through Royal Bank Invest are well diversified. They invest around the world and in different sectors. You can find out where your money will be invested by checking the latest available fund factsheets. 

You can visit our Fund Performance page to find out more information on how the five ready-made investment funds have performed in the past. 

Past performance is not an indicator of future performance and should not be relied on as such.

Click on the link below to download the Royal Bank Invest Pension Key Features Document:

Royal Bank Invest Pension Key Features Document November 2024 (PDF, 310 KB)