Legal & General International Ireland, the group's recently created offshore arm, has launched an International Portfolio bond to cater for high net worth clients on the Cofunds platform. This will be followed by a second version in December. Both bonds will require an initial £50,000 ($103,000) investment, although LGII expects the first version to attract the highest average investment. David Fagan, LGII chief executive officer, said: “International Portfolio bond offers a flexible and cost-effective way to make fund switches, ensuring IFAs can review clients' portfolio needs and integrate with other products to ensure their overall wealth management requirements are met. This has not been possible before.” The move followed Legal & General research which showed that offshore business has now become more relevant to IFAs than previously. Nearly a quarter of IFAs questioned said making offshore products available on a platform would encourage greater use and almost 70 per cent said they would recommend offshore investments as a tax planning strategy for their clients.