ReAssure Life property Fund suspensions

The details below relate to products held with ReAssure Life (former Old Mutual Wealth customers)

We recommend that you speak to your financial adviser before making any investment decisions.

The below assumes that the suspension will be temporary (for a period of less than six months). If the suspension lasts longer than this, further rules may apply.

The following funds have been suspended:

Please note that funds that used to begin ‘OMW’ now begin ‘OMR’ since the change to ReAssure Life.

Common questions

Will there be any changes to your product charges as a result of the fund suspension?

No, there are no changes to product charges.

Will the fund still be valued as part of my plan?

Yes. The value of units in any property fund will be included in the overall value of your investments shown online or in your statements. At the moment, the suspended fund will still be priced each day and we will provide an update if this changes.

Can I still invest in, or top-up, these funds?

Not while it’s suspended. If we receive an instruction including any property fund we will ask for a revised fund choice.

Can I switch in or out of these funds?

Not while it’s suspended. You can switch other funds as normal.

What happens if I am using automatic rebalancing or phased investment options?

If your phased investment instruction includes any property fund the instruction will be cancelled for all funds and cannot be restarted until the suspension is lifted. We will contact you and your adviser to request an alternative instruction.

If your automatic rebalancing instruction includes any property fund the instruction will be cancelled for all funds and can only be restarted once the suspension is lifted and you ask us to do this.

What if I am paying Direct Debits into the funds?

Any part of a Direct Debit payment that is currently allocated to any property fund will instead be allocated to the OMR Deposit fund.

We will not automatically switch/redirect from the OMR Deposit fund into any property fund once the suspension is lifted.

Redirections (changing your Direct Debit instructions)

The OMR Deposit fund may not be suitable for your long-term investment needs. If you want to redirect your Direct Debit to other funds, you can provide us with new instructions, as long as the alternative funds are not suspended.

It is important that you speak to your financial adviser before making any investment decisions.

Can I still take withdrawals (bonds)?

You can still take withdrawals from other funds in the investment but not from any property fund.

Can I take my pension benefits, including one-off withdrawals (pensions)?

Benefits cannot normally be taken from your Old Mutual Wealth pension before you have reached the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) of 55 (or any earlier protected pension age or ill-health early retirement age).

If you have reached this age and you wish to start taking any benefits for the first time (such as a pension commencement lump sum (PCLS), drawdown income or life time annuity income), and you are invested in one or more suspended funds we will consider these on a case by case basis.

If you have reached your selected retirement age, and you wish to start taking any benefits for the first time (such as a pension commencement lump sum (PCLS), drawdown income or life time annuity income), you will be able to take this as normal, where permitted by legislation, pensions rules and the terms and conditions of the plan.

The full value of the plan can still be viewed daily (including the value held in the suspended fund, using the available price on the day).

I am already taking pension income.  Can I take a one-off withdrawal from my pension? (pensions)

You will be unable to take any additional income whilst the funds are suspended.

Are my regular automatic withdrawals from my bond affected?

These withdrawals will be unaffected and we will continue to raise the withdrawal amounts by selling units from all funds in your bond, including from any property fund. Where this is not possible, we will contact you as soon as we can to let you know.

Are my existing pension income payments affected? (for plans pre-fixed with DA)

These will be unaffected and you can continue to take income as usual.

Am I able to close my plan? (non-pension products only)

This is possible, but we can only sell units from the funds which are not suspended. We will send you the proceeds from the sale of non-suspended funds in the normal way. When the suspension is lifted, we will sell any property fund and send you the proceeds to complete the closure.

If applicable, we will issue the appropriate Chargeable Event Certificate, including the value of any property fund as at the date the other funds were sold. After the suspension is lifted and we are able to send you the proceeds of those funds, we will issue a replacement Chargeable Event Certificate.

Can I transfer my pension to another provider?

If you have reached your Selected Retirement Age (SRA), and you are transferring your pension in order to take retirement benefits, we will allow the transfer to proceed.

Otherwise, it is not possible to make a partial transfer of a pension arrangement to another provider, we cannot complete this transaction until the fund suspension is lifted.

Will servicing fees or fund-based fees for my adviser be affected?

Where you have agreed that fees are deducted from your plan and paid to your financial adviser, we will continue to make these payments as normal, including selling units from any property fund.

Will recent transactions involving suspended funds be honoured?

Recent transactions could have been rejected by the fund manager (if they occurred at the time the fund was suspended). If this is the case, we will be in touch separately as we may need revised instructions from you or to carry out adjustments on your plan.

What happens if my policy matures?

If your policy matures whilst any property fund is suspended we will close the policy and pay out the full amount including the value of any property fund.

What happens in the event of a death claim?

If the policyholder is the last life assured on the account then we would close the whole account, including any property fund and pay out the full proceeds, using the available price we have on the day of that transaction.

Further information

If you have any questions about the above or about your plan in general, please speak to your financial adviser in the first instance. If you don’t have an adviser you can find out more about finding an adviser here.

Alternatively, you can call our Customer Contact Centre on Freephone 0808 171 2600, or email us at ask@reassurelife.co.uk, but please remember we are not authorised to give you any investment advice.