Who are RL360?

RL360 is based in the Isle of Man, conducting business in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the UK. The company operates worldwide, and besides the Isle of Man, has offices in Hong Kong, Lebanon, Malaysia and Dubai. RL360 provides offshore savings, protection and investment products for expats and local nationals around the world.

The firm boasts 70,000 policy holders in 170 countries. It is no longer part of Royal London (the UK group) separating from it several years ago. The firm’s mother company, International Financial Group (IFGL) employs 335 staff and manages $10 billion of assets for investors.

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What is their Personalised Investment Management Service (PIMS)?

RL360 PIMS is a single premium offshore/international savings policy issued in the Isle of Man by RL360 Insurance Company Limited (RL360). It has a wide range of tax efficient investment options available which offer the potential for growth, over the medium to long term.

RL360 PIMS is a portfolio bond offering a choice between fully open and guided architecture. It is available in seven policy currencies. PIMS can be used in a trust and also offers the ability to appoint a discretionary fund manager or an investment adviser. The investment options cater for almost all attitudes to risk.

If you are considering a RL360 PIMS Plan then ensure you fully understand the local taxation position.

Life Assurance or Capital Redemption?

Life assurance
A PIMS policy on a life assurance basis can be set up in one of two ways:

Single life – There is only 1 life assured and when they die the policy comes to an end.

Joint life last death – There can be up to 6 lives assured on the policy, and it comes to an end when the last life assured dies.

Capital redemption
A PIMS policy on a capital redemption basis will remain in-force for a total of 99 years at which point it will mature and we will pay out the surrender value.

A PIMS policy on a capital redemption basis will remain in-force for a total of 99 years at which point it will mature and we will pay out the surrender value.

You cannot change the basis of your policy after it has been issued.

What are Sub-policies?

PIMS can be structured in up to 100 sub-policies. This is for added flexibility and may provide tax advantages depending on your location. Fewer sub-policies may be chosen if required, but unless this is detailed in your PIMS application RL360 will automatically set up the policy with 100 sub-policies.

What’s the difference between PIMS Focused and PIMS Flexible?

PIMS Focused policyholders can invest into a defined range of investment funds
PIMS Flexible policyholders can invest into any investment acceptable to RL360.

Am I eligible for RL360’s PIMS?

PIMS is available to individuals, companies and trustees provided they are not subject to any legislation which prevents them from making an investment. Individuals need to be 18 years of age or older to apply for PIMS.

Where the policy basis is life assurance, RL360 cannot accept the application if the youngest life assured is 85 years of age or older.

What’s the investment choice?

PIMS Focused policyholders can invest into a defined range of approximately 1,000 investment funds. Accordingly, PIMS Focused has a lower charging structure than PIMS Flexible which is fully open-architecture.

Leading Fund Houses offer a wide choice of investment funds. You choose from 999 funds covering all the major world markets and investment classes. The funds section contains performance statistics which are updated monthly, fund prices which are updated daily and Fund Fact Sheets on each fund. They will, after consideration, also accept other external funds.

Is the PIMS multi-currency?

Set up your policy is one of seven major world currencies – the British Pound (GBP), Euro (EUR), United States dollar (USD), Swiss franc (CHF), Australian dollar (AUD), Hong Kong dollar (HKD) or Japanese yen (JPY). The currency of your PIMS policy cannot be changed after issue.

Your policy will be valued in this currency and fees will be deducted in this currency.

What’s the minimum amount I can contribute to my RL360 PIMS plan?

Premiums are subject to the minimum premium levels for your policy currency which in GBP are £50,000 initial and £5,000 additional. Initial and additional premiums paid into PIMS can be made in any currency that is acceptable to RL360.

Schedule a call with Mike, your financial expert, today.

    How do I get a valuation or see my plan statements?

    Keep up with your account, savings and investments at anytime 24/7 with the RL360° online platform, accessible from anywhere with internet access.

    What are the charges?

    PIMS has been designed with a charging structure that can be tailored to best suit your needs. There are 3 main elements to the charging structure that can be used separately or in combination:

    Allocation rate – this is the rate at which your premium is applied to the policy. This can be below, equal to or above 100% of your premium if other charging elements are chosen.
    Establishment fee – this is a fee that is taken over a set period of time – 5 years, 8 years, or 10 years – as a percentage of your premium. An early surrender fee will apply during the same period.
    Percentage administration fee – this is a fee that is taken throughout the lifetime of your policy as a percentage of the higher of your premium or its current policy value. An early surrender fee will apply and you can choose from 8 years or 10 years.

    It is possible to reduce the allocation rate of a PIMS policy so that all fees relating to the initial premium are deducted on the policy start date. Alternatively, rather than reduce your premium at the start of the policy, you can pay fees through the establishment or percentage administration fees. By doing this you can enhance your allocation rate beyond 100%, up to a maximum of 112.25% for PIMS Flexible policies or 113.50% for PIMS Focused policies (this also depends on your premium amount).

    In addition to the 3 main flexible elements there is also a flat administration fee. This is a fixed amount that increases each year with inflation. It is taken from the cash account on the quarterly anniversary of the policy start date. The fee continues to be taken until the policy comes to an end.

    A dealing fee of GBP20 (or currency equivalent) is deducted for each purchase, sale, transfer or exchange of an investment linked to a PIMS policy. The first 10 transactions (1 buy and 1 sell = 2 transactions) are free from dealing fees.

    For cash deposit accounts (only available under PIMS Flexible) there is a GBP20 (or currency equivalent) fee for each deposit placed or each withdrawal taken from an account.

    The investment fees applied will depend on the investments to which your PIMS policy is linked. Fees can include, but are not limited to, initial and annual management charges, performance fees and exit fees.

    Fees are determined by the investment manager. In some cases RL360 will receive institutional discounts not available to individual investors, meaning that the initial charges that you have to pay will be lower than via direct investment.

    Where RL360 is required to perform a foreign exchange (FX) transaction, this will be done at a rate determined by RL360, based on those commercially available in the market.

    What happens if I want to close the plan early, or withdraw some cash?

    A partial surrender on your RL360 PIMS Plan may be treated as a one-off withdrawal. There are minimum acceptable one-off withdrawals, regular withdrawals and minimum PIMS policy values after a withdrawal.

    (For example – in GBP one off min is – £500, regular is = £250 – minimum policy value = £25,000 – note the minimum policy value must not drop below the figure shown or 15% of the premiums paid to date, whichever is the higher)

    One-off withdrawals can be paid in an easily exchanged currency.

    Regular withdrawals will be paid in the PIMS policy currency and can be taken monthly, quarterly, half yearly or yearly. Regular withdrawals can be set up when you apply for a PIMS policy or be requested at a later date.

    A full encashment results in penalties being applied in the early years through surrender charges linked to the term of the policy. In effect this means that on polices the first 5, or more typically 8 – 10, years may have quite high surrender charges imposed. It is important to be aware that the RL360 PIMS Plan is a long term plan, if you decided to cancel the plan early you could lose a proportion of the money you have invested.

    Where Can I Help You Today?

    If you want to learn more about the RL360 Personalised Investment Management Service, or, discover how to get your investment savings plan to work, then fill out our contact form below.

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