POLICY CONDITIONS Approved Minimum Retirement Fund (PC AM5 02/11)

Transcription

1 POLICY CONDITIONS Approved Minimum Retirement Fund (PC AM5 02/11) Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Contract and definitions Contributions The funds Unit linking Benefits & Options General conditions Contents Introduction The details of your contract with us are set out in your application form, these policy conditions, any Supplementary Conditions or Notices that you may receive and on your policy schedule. Please read them carefully. We have divided these conditions into several sections. The brief notes at the start of each section will help you to understand the conditions but do not form part of your contract with us. If you have any unanswered questions, please contact us and we will be happy to help. Section 1 Contract and definitions This section sets out the basis of the contract between us and also defines some terms used in these conditions. 1. Basis of contract Your policy consists of the application form, policy schedule, these conditions and any Supplementary Conditions or Notices that you may receive and is evidence of a contract between you and us. Under this contract we agree to pay you the benefits described in this policy as long as you have met all the conditions. 2. Definitions In these conditions the following words and phrases will have the following meanings. Friends First, we, our, us, Friends First Life Assurance Company Limited You, your The policyholder The Actuary Our Appointed Actuary or any other actuary he or she appoints for the purpose of this policy. The Policy Start Date The Policy Start date is the start date of your policy as shown on your policy schedule. The Maturity Date The Maturity Date of this policy is your 75 th Birthday. The Contribution The Contribution is the single contribution or additional single contribution amount of money received and accepted by us for this policy. At the Policy Start Date, the single contribution amount will be shown on your policy schedule. The Investment Contribution The Investment Contribution is the net amount of money, after set up charges, which we divide between your choice of our Investment funds. At the Policy Start Date, the Investment Contribution amount will be shown on your policy schedule. The Self Directed Minimum The Self Directed Minimum is the minimum value of your Investment Contribution required to allow you to initially join the Self Directed Investment Fund. The minimum is 25,000, which may be changed at any time at the discretion of Friends First. Early Encashment Charge The Early Encashment Charge is a charge that will be applied to the value of the fund in the event of a transfer of all of the Fund Value within the first five years from the Policy Start Date and/or within the first five years from the Effective Date of Additional Single Contributions to another Approved Minimum Retirement Fund or Retirement Annuity policy offered by another authorised provider. Except that, if you have selected our Option A rates on your application form, the Early Encashment Charge will not apply. The charge will not be applied to a partial withdrawal from the policy to provide you with an income. Effective Date of Additional Single Contributions The Effective Date of Additional Single Contributions will be the date on which we receive the Contribution or the date on which we have received all the information necessary to allow us to invest your payment in your chosen fund. Valuation Date The Self Directed Investment Fund will normally be valued on a daily basis. Other Investment funds will normally be valued at least once a week. However, in respect of all of our Investment funds, we reserve the right to use other and/or additional dates for this purpose, as appropriate. The Account Where you have selected our Self Directed Investment Fund, we will open the Account with the Investment Manager specifically to cater for your policy. We will give the Investment Manager the proportion of each Investment Contribution that you have instructed us to invest in the fund. Each and every Investment Contribution will be held by the Investment Manager in the Account in cash deposits until such time as the Investment Manager receives instructions directly, in the prescribed form and format, to purchase other assets in place of those cash deposits. The Account will be subject to the charges set out in Conditions 6 (Fund Charges) and 10 (Policy Charges). These charges will be deducted from the Account on a regular basis and it is your responsibility to ensure that the Account retains sufficient liquidity to pay these charges to us and to the Investment manager at all times. If the liquidity held in the Account is not sufficient to cover the charges at any time, then the Investment Manager will sell assets, without your consent, of sufficient value to cover the charges and the sale of these assets will incur transaction charges.

2 For the avoidance of doubt, liquidity will be maintained at approximately 5% of the value of the Account at any time. The Fund Value At all times and in all circumstances, the Fund Value available to provide benefits for you under this policy, subject where relevant to the Early Encashment Charges of Condition 10 and the Delaying Cancelling Units provisions of Condition 22, will be; In respect of our Self Directed Investment Fund, the amount received by Friends First from the Investment Manager after liquidation of any assets held in the Account set up specifically to cater for your policy. In respect of our other Investment funds, the bid value of the units allocated to your policy as at the Valuation Date immediately following the receipt of your instructions. Supplementary Conditions or Notices In relation to all of the Conditions contained in Sections 1, 3 and 4 of these Conditions, we may make funds available on this policy from time to time that do not conform to the normal conditions set out herein. If you select one of these funds we will issue to you a Supplementary Condition or Notice setting out the additional terms specifically applicable to that fund. We will not use the Supplementary Condition or Notice to change these conditions in any other way. The Investment Manager The Investment Manager is the person, people or company we appoint to manage each Investment fund. Approved Retirement Fund (ARF) and Approved Minimum Retirement Fund (AMRF) These have the meanings applied by Section 770 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (as amended). Qualifying Fund Manager Qualifying Fund Manager has its meaning applied by Section 770 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (as amended). Section 2 Contributions This is a single contribution policy. After you pay the Contribution you will not be expected to make any further payments to the policy. However, you may make additional contributions as long as the funds are coming from an allowable source. 3. Contributions Your application form will state the amount of the Contribution that you want to make to this policy and this will be shown as your Single contribution on your policy schedule. The full amount of the Contribution is due on the Policy Start Date and the policy is not effective until Friends First has received the full amount. This is a single contribution policy, which means that you are expected to make one payment on the Policy Start Date only. You may make additional contributions after this time provided the funds are coming from an allowable source. Any additional contribution will be subject to our terms and conditions for this policy applicable at the time. Section 3 The funds This is a unit-linked policy. This means that it invests in our Investment funds of your choice. The value of the policy is directly linked to how these funds perform. This section sets out details of the funds, how they are valued and the charges that apply to them. Our Investment funds, including our Self Directed Investment Fund, have separate pools of assets. We would ask you to note that this Section specifies that there is a range of potential values that Friends First can use when setting unit prices i.e. from the minimum valuation to the maximum valuation. The price is commonly at the maximum valuation when new customers are buying units but we may move it to the minimum valuation when there are few (or no) new customers investing. This will result in a change in the price. In the case of funds with investment in property this can be quite substantial due to the costs associated with property investment (in particular stamp duty). The range of Investment funds available to you at any time will vary and the charges that apply to those funds may differ between funds. While we do not list every fund and the fund specific charges that apply here, it is important that you are familiar with these charges and we would be pleased to give you details of the funds available and the charges applicable to them at any time. 4. The funds Units and funds Your policy is linked to one or more of our Investment funds. We divide these funds into units. We only use units for working out benefits. You have no legal right to, or interest in the Investment funds or in any assets of the Investment funds or any of our other assets. Investment funds We will maintain a number of separate accounts for pensions business (called Investment funds ). These will include the Self Directed Investment Fund. The Self Directed Investment Fund is made up of a number of Accounts each containing assets specific to that Account. Each Account will receive all income, capital gains and other receipts relating to the assets held in that Account. We will take any charges from that Account in line with Conditions 6 (Fund charges) and 10 (Policy Charges). The value of the Self Directed Investment fund will be the combined value of all these Accounts. Each Account will firstly be valued individually based on the assets held in the individual Account. Each of our other Investment funds is made up of a separate pool of assets, which we use to work out the value of units. We may invest an Investment fund in

3 units of one or more other Investment funds. An Investment fund may have different types of units at any given time. Each fund will receive all income, capital gains and other receipts relating to the assets of that fund. We will take any charges from that fund in line with Condition 6 (Fund charges). We may introduce new Investment funds at any time. We may also close and/or withdraw access to certain Investment funds at any time if: the fund has become too small to manage at a reasonable cost; there are not enough suitable investments available; we feel it is in the best interests of policyholders to do so; future legislation necessitates. If we close or withdraw access to an Investment fund in which you have units, we will write to you and ask you to switch the units you had in that fund to another fund. If we do not receive your instructions, we will choose a suitable fund. 5. Valuing Investment funds The value of the Self Directed Investment Fund will be the combined value of the assets held in each individual Account as notified to us by the Investment Manager. We will work out the minimum and maximum value of each of our other Investment funds on the appropriate Valuation Date. The minimum value of each of our other Investment funds will be based on the price at which the assets of the Investment fund might be sold less any relevant taxes, duties or other expenses. The maximum value of each of our other Investment funds will be based on the price at which the assets of the Investment fund might be bought plus any relevant taxes, duties or other expenses. When valuing the assets of each of our other Investment funds, we will consider the following: In the case of real property (land and buildings), we will look at the valuations approved by an independent valuer appointed by us. These will be adjusted to take into account any changes since the previous valuation; In the case of securities listed on the stock market, we will look at the price quoted on the appropriate stock exchange we choose; in determining the value of the Insight Currency fund, assets will be valued using the prices in the interbank currency market at midday on the Valuation Date; In the case of other assets, we will look at the relevant factors affecting the value of the assets. in the case of any assets of an Investment fund or funds where it is not possible to establish a market price both on a purchase and a sale basis, the valuation will be determined by the Actuary. 6. Fund charges We and, the Investment Manager for an Investment fund will be entitled to take the following amounts from our funds: All costs incurred in buying, selling, maintaining or valuing assets, and A reasonable share, to be decided by the Actuary, of taxes, levies or similar charges made on us, and When we value a fund we may also apply a range of charges. These charges can typically include a fund management charge and/or an upfront charge and/or a performance charge although there may also be other charges. These charges will differ between funds and may increase or decrease in the future based on the terms available at the time. The fund management charge for our funds will normally range upwards from 0.75% per annum of the value of the fund. The fund management charge for a number of our funds currently available for selection is higher than this amount. This charge may increase or decrease in the future based on the terms or funds available at the time. The annual fund management charge for our Self Directed Investment Fund will be calculated and deducted from the value of each Account each calendar month as a percentage of the value of the assets held in the Account at the time. However, we reserve the right to calculate and deduct the charges at other times as we deem necessary The fund management charge for our funds is normally calculated as a percentage of the net asset value of the fund. We reserve the right to use an alternative basis for this purpose as we deem appropriate for specific funds that are available for selection currently or in the future. Certain funds that we make available currently or in the future may carry specific upfront and/or performance charges. In this case and if the fund is selected a Supplementary Condition or Notice or Endorsement setting out the additional terms applicable to the fund will be issued. The growth of the Insight Currency fund will be subject to a performance fee of 20% of the amount by which the annualised growth exceeds 7% per annum. This fee will only apply when the growth rate exceeds 7% per annum before deduction of the management charge, and is built into the unit price of the fund and is only chargeable where the fund has increased above its highest previous unit price. Other funds that we make available in the future may also be subject to performance fees. The fund charges will be reflected in the unit pricing of the funds. In respect of all our funds, we may change these charges at any time to cover possible future changes in our expenses. If we invest a fund in units of another fund, we will change the management charge to avoid you being charged twice.

4 Section 4 Unit Linking Each fund is divided into units. We will use your Investment Contribution set out on your policy schedule to buy units for your policy. This section sets out how we price units and add them to or subtract them from your policy. It also explains how you can choose the funds to which your policy is linked. 7. Unit prices Each unit of a fund will have an offer price and a bid price. We will work out the offer price of each Investment fund on the appropriate Valuation Date. The offer price will not be greater than the value found by: dividing the maximum value of the Investment fund by the number of units in the Investment fund, and dividing the result by 0.95, and rounding this figure upward by not more then 1%. We will work out the bid price of each Investment fund on the appropriate Valuation Date. The bid price will not be less than the value found by: dividing the minimum value of the Investment fund by the number of units in the Investment fund, and rounding this figure downward by not more than 1%. We may round unit prices up or down. If we do, any remaining amounts will belong to us. If the bid price of the Self Directed Investment Fund is not equal to 1.00 at any Valuation Date we will add or cancel units in the fund in accordance with Condition 9 (Self Directed units). When we do this we will not add or remove any assets from the fund. We will then recalculate the unit price, which will result in a bid price of Adding units to your policy We will use the Investment Contribution to buy units in the fund(s) named on your policy schedule. We work out the number of units to add to your policy by dividing the part of the Investment Contribution set aside for each of the funds by the bid price of the fund on the Valuation Date immediately following receipt of your Contribution. We then round down the number of units to the next lower 1 / 100 th part of a unit. Any Investment Contribution that you instruct us to invest in our Self Directed Investment Fund will be transferred by us to the Investment Manager within a reasonable period of time after receipt of your instruction that is necessary to allow us to complete all of our business processes and to ensure that the transaction is completed in line with regulatory requirements imposed upon us. You can add further investments to your policy, provided they are above our minimum limits at the time and they are coming from an allowable source. Your additional investments will be converted to units in the same manner as described above. 9. Self Directed units We will recalculate the number of units held by us in our Self Directed Investment Fund for this policy on each Valuation Date. We will do this by dividing the value of the Account notified to us by the Investment manager by If the number of units allocated to your policy differs from this amount then we will add or cancel units so that the units remaining equal this amount. The value of the Account, as notified to us by the Investment Manager, may change on a daily basis and we will add units to or subtract units from this policy as appropriate to reflect the change in the value. 10. Policy Charges We will cancel units from your policy to cover any of the following: a plan management charge, and a policy fee, and the amount of any withdrawal and the administration charge applicable in line with Conditions 13 (Withdrawals) 14 (Partial Withdrawals), 15 (Death) and 17 (Transfer value). At the Policy Start Date, the amount of the plan management charge and the policy fee will be shown on your policy schedule. If the policy fee shown is 0.00, we reserve the right to introduce a fee in the future. If the plan management charge shown is 0%, we reserve the right to introduce a plan management charge in the future as we deem appropriate for a specific Investment fund available at the time. Units will be cancelled from your policy using the bid price of the relevant funds on the relevant Valuation Date. In relation to the Self Directed Investment Fund, we will cancel units from this policy to reflect a reduction in the value of the Account as notified to us by the Investment Manager on each Valuation date. If you have selected our Option A rates on your application form, the Early Encashment Charge will not apply. Otherwise, in the event of a transfer of all or part of the Fund Value within the first five years from the Policy Start Date and/or within the first five years from the Effective Date of Additional Single Contributions to another Approved Minimum Retirement Fund or Retirement Annuity policy offered by another authorised provider, the Early Encashment Charge will apply to the Fund Value as follows: for a transfer made before the third anniversary of the Policy Start Date or the Effective Date of Additional Single Contributions, a charge of 5% will apply; for a transfer made between the third and fourth anniversary of the Policy Start Date or the Effective Date of Additional Single Contributions, a charge of 3% will apply;

5 for a transfer made between the fourth and fifth anniversary of the Policy Start Date or the Effective Date of Additional Single Contributions, a charge of 2% will apply. Where the date of a transfer is within 5 years of both the Policy Start Date and Effective Date of Additional Single Contributions, the charge that will apply will not exceed the charge determined based on the Effective Date of Additional Single Contributions. We will not apply a charge to a partial withdrawal from the policy to provide you with an income. 11. Selecting funds At the Policy Start Date the Investment Contribution will be invested in the fund(s) named on your policy schedule. You must allow at least 10% of your Investment Contribution for each fund you select. You can give us instructions at any time to switch some or all of the units held by your policy in a fund to units of any other fund(s) available at the time and the following conditions will apply: We will carry out your instructions based on the bid price of units at the Valuation Date immediately after we receive your instructions, subject to Condition 22 (Delaying cancelling units). There is normally no charge for unit switches. However, we reserve the right to introduce a charge. Selecting the Self Directed Investment Fund You may not initially select the Self Directed Investment Fund unless the value of the Investment Contribution to be invested in the Self Directed Investment Fund is at least the Self Directed Minimum. There is no minimum applied to the value of subsequent Investment Contributions to be invested in the Self Directed Investment Fund. You may not instruct us to switch any units from an Investment fund to the Self Directed Investment Fund unless the value of the units to be switched in to the Self Directed Investment Fund is at least the Self Directed Minimum. There is no minimum applied to the value of subsequent units to be switched in to the Self Directed Investment Fund. You may not instruct us to switch units out of the Self Directed Investment Fund to any other Investment fund that would reduce the value of the units held in the Self Directed Investment Fund for this policy below the Self Directed Minimum unless you instruct us to switch your entire unit holding out of this fund. If you select the Self Directed Investment Fund, each Investment Contribution will be held by the Investment Manager in the Account in cash deposits until such time as the Investment Manager receives instructions directly, in the prescribed form and format only, to purchase other assets in place of those cash deposits. The assets that we will allow you to buy are subject to restrictions. This instruction is undertaken entirely at your own risk and does not convey on you legal right to, or interest in the assets of the Self Directed Investment Fund as set out in Condition 4 (Units and funds). We reserve the right, in any circumstances, to give instructions to the Investment Manager in relation to the assets held in the Account, without your consent, if we consider that it is necessary to do so. Section 5 Benefits & Options This section describes the options available to you under this policy. 12. Bonuses There are no bonuses units associated with this policy. Individual Investment funds currently available or introduced to this policy in the future may have bonus units associated with them. 13. Withdrawals In respect of all withdrawals from this policy (under Conditions 14 (Partial withdrawals), 15 (Death) and 17 (Transfer value).), the following applies: You may not select a regular withdrawal from this policy. Any withdrawal may be deferred under Condition 22 (Delaying Cancelling Units). We will cancel units from your policy to cover the withdrawal amount requested including or plus any administration charge due. We may apply an administration charge of 3.81 for each withdrawal. We reserve the right to change this amount in the future. We will cancel units at the bid price of the relevant funds on a Valuation Date decided by us before the date on which the transaction needs to be finalised. The period of time between the Valuation Date and the date on which the transaction needs to be finalised will include sufficient time as we need to allow us to take all the actions we deem necessary to finalise the transaction by the required date. In respect of Partial Withdrawals, the date on which the transaction needs to be finalised will be our payment date. All withdrawals under Conditions 14 or 15 will be treated as Income for the purposes of PAYE, RRSI and the Universal Social Charge. We will deduct the relevant amounts of tax, which will be forwarded to the Revenue Commissioners. 14. Partial Withdrawals You can write to us at any time and request us to cash in some of the units added to your policy provided that the remaining value of your Investment fund after each withdrawal does not reduce below the original amount invested and the following conditions apply: The amount you ask for cannot be less than 5,000 and the value of the units remaining in

6 your policy after each withdrawal must not be less than the amount of your original investment. If your policy holds units in more than one fund, we will normally cancel an equal value of units from each fund. However, you can also ask us to cancel the full value from a single fund. Where the Self Directed Investment Fund has been selected, you may not select a partial withdrawal in excess of 5% per annum of the total value of units held in your policy. The date on which we will normally make a payment to you will be the 15 th day of the relevant calendar month. We reserve the right to use other payment dates for this purpose as we deem necessary. The method by which we will make the payment to you will be by electronic fund transfer only. We reserve the right to use other payment methods as we deem necessary. 15. Death On your death, your Approved Minimum Retirement Fund policy will be converted to an Approved Retirement Fund policy and may continue in the name of your spouse. To do this we will terminate this policy and replace it with another policy available at the time in the name of your spouse. If your policy is inherited by any other person, it will be terminated in full and the payment will be subject to tax. 16. Maturity On Maturity, your Approved Minimum Retirement Fund policy will become an Approved Retirement Fund policy. To do this we will terminate this policy and replace it with an Approved Retirement Fund policy available at the time. The issuing of the replacement policy will constitute your confirmation that this transaction has taken place. 17. Transfer Value You may instruct us at any time to transfer all of the Fund Value of your Approved Minimum Retirement Fund policy to another Approved Minimum Retirement Fund or Retirement Annuity policy offered by another authorised provider. The transfer value will be the cash-in value. A transfer value will not be subject to tax but may be subject to an Early Encashment Charge if the transfer takes place in the first five years from the Policy Start Date and/or from the Effective Date of Additional Single Contributions. 18. Paying claims Before we can consider making a payment under this policy we must receive the original policy document and proof of: the event giving rise to the claim; and the right the person claiming payment has to the benefit of the policy. We will pay any benefit due under this policy to you, your executors or the administrators of your estate. If we do not pay the benefit within 2 months of the date the benefit becomes payable (or the date all units are cancelled, if later) we will also pay interest. The interest will be based on a relevant market rate from the end of the 2 month period until the actual date we pay the benefit. 19. Deduction of tax All withdrawals as income are subject to Income Tax under the PAYE system, PRSI and levies. We will make a deduction in accordance with the Certificate of Tax Credits and Standard Rate Cut-off Point that you have provided to us and we will pay this amount to the Revenue Commissioners. Depending on your personal circumstances, a higher or lower amount of tax may be due. It is your responsibility to settle any balance of tax due directly with the Revenue Commissioners. Section 6 General conditions This section sets out some general legal conditions and gives us certain rights that we can use in certain circumstances. 20. Revenue approval Your Approved Minimum Retirement Fund Plan is approved under Section 784A to 784E of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (as may be amended from time to time). You cannot assign this policy, however, you can pass your policy on to your spouse, children or others on your death through your estate. Your executors or administrators of your estate must provide appropriate proof before any benefits due under this policy will be released. 21. Law and currency The policy is governed by Irish law. All money paid to or by us must be paid at our registered office in the currency of the Republic of Ireland. If we pay or accept payment at any other place, it does not mean that we have cancelled this condition. 22. Delaying cancelling units To protect the value of the assets of a fund for all policyholders, whose policies are linked to that fund, we may delay cancelling any units for up to one month from the next Valuation Date of the funds. Where the value of a unit depends, either directly or indirectly, on the value of real property (land and buildings), we may delay cancelling units for up to six months. If we do this, we will use the bid prices on the Valuation Date immediately following the end of the period of delay. If due to market conditions, it is not possible to dispose of assets in any funds at a reasonable price within the period of delay, on the advice of the Actuary we may extend the period of delay until such time as sufficient assets have been sold. Where the value of a unit depends on the disposal of any assets held in the Self Directed Investment Fund we may delay the cancellation of units until such time as the monetary value of the assets has been received by us from the Investment Manager. 23. Taxation and other law

7 We may make appropriate changes to the terms of the policy if the law or basis of taxation of the policy changes, or if any material changes are introduced that temporarily or permanently affect the taxation regime of withdrawals from Approved Minimum Retirement Fund policies 24. General To give us instructions or notice you must write to us. You should either send or deliver your letter to our registered office together with any other documents or information we need. We may accept instructions from you other than in writing at our discretion, where we accept such instructions we will confirm them in writing to you. Once such confirmation is sent, this will constitute a valid instruction. Where you have selected the Self Directed Investment Fund, instructions may be given to the Investment Manager in respect of the assets held in the Account. This must be completed directly to the Investment Manager in the prescribed form and format only. This form and format can be in writing or by telephone only. We will not accept instructions and/or direct instructions received to the Investment Manager in respect of the Account on your behalf at any time. Any instructions received by us for the Investment Manager in respect of the Account will not be a valid instruction and will not be carried out. We will not be liable for the consequences of any instructions given to the Investment Manager for the Account or for the failure of the Investment Manager to give effect to any instructions given to them. All communications from Friends First, including these conditions and your policy documents will be in the English Language. Friends First Life Assurance Company is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.