Hansard International Vantage Platinum II

Vantage Platinum II is a unit-linked, regular contribution insurance contract with a fixed term, selected at outset, of between 5 and 35 whole years.

Additional lump sum contributions are also permitted.

The aim of the contract is to benefit from the potential medium to long-term increase of the value of your savings by investing the contributions you make over the contract term into the Hansard International series 2 unit funds (Hansard unit funds) – a range of unit-linked investments that are created, priced and administered by Hansard International.

Vantage Platinum II is intended for high-net-worth Malaysia-resident clients who wish to save regularly (for at least five years). 

The contract owner (or oldest if there are two) must be at least 18 years old and less than 65 years old on the contract start date, and must be 75 or younger at maturity.

The contract is designed for all regular contributions to be paid at the selected level for the whole term, so you should only commit to a regular contribution level that can be maintained for the full contract term.

Regular contributions may be made either monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly. Minimum contributions apply depending on the chosen frequency and contract currency as shown below:

Regular contributions can be made by credit card or bank instruction letter, or by direct debit for GBP payments from a UK bank account. Additional lump sum contributions may be made by bank transfer.

Features of Hansard International's Vantage Platinum II:

• Vantage Platinum II may be held by one or two contract owners. Unless otherwise instructed, they will act upon instructions from either contract holder.
• This is a life assurance contract which must have at least one life assured and may have a second. These cannot be changed once your contract has started. The life assured (or oldest if there are two) must be at least 18 years old and less than 65 years old on the contract start date, and must be 75 or younger at maturity.
• The death benefit will become payable when the life assured dies (or if there are two lives assured, when the first of these dies) and at this point the contract will end.
• The standard death benefit sum assured is 101% of the contract value, but you may also have the option to add an additional guaranteed sum assured
  which increases the death benefit to be a specific amount.
• For residents of Malaysia the minimum savings amount permitted is MYR 15,000 per year for regular contributions, or MYR 20,000 for lump-sum contributions. Due to exchange rate fluctuations, contributions paid may vary against these levels.
• The contract is available in GBP, USD or EUR, and this will determine the currency of contributions and of valuations. Where contributions are made in a different currency to the contract currency, the amount will be converted using the applicable exchange rate.

Let's have a brief look at some of the Vantage Platinum II charges as stated by Hansard International:

1. Annual management charge: The annual management charge is based on the fund value and is charged for the full term of the contract. The
   charge is applied daily, to all unit types as shown below, and is reflected in the quoted Hansard unit fund price:
   
   

   Initial units	1.5% per year	Units purchased by the welcome bonus, or by any part of a regular contribution due during the initial period
   Accumulator units	1.5% per year	Units purchased by any part of a regular contribution due after the initial period, or by additional lump-sum contributions
   Bonus units	1.5% per year	Units allocated by the loyalty bonus

2. Initial unit charge: There is an additional charge applied to all initial units, based on the fund value, and is charged for the full term of the contract. The charge is applied daily and is reflected in the quoted Hansard unit fund price:
   
   

   Initial units

   5.5% per year

   Units purchased by the welcome bonus, or by any part of a regular contribution due during the initial period

3. Service charge: GBP 60 per year (GBP 5 per month) and GBP 120 per year (GBP 10 per month) for paid-up regular contribution contracts. The service charge is taken on a monthly basis from your accumulator units. If there are not enough accumulator units to deduct the charge then it will be carried forward to the next month.
   
   
4. Early surrender charge: The charge applied is equivalent to the initial unit annual management charge and the initial unit charge remaining for the number of days between the surrender date and the maturity date. The charges can be summarised below:
   
   

   Time remaining (years)	Early surrender charge
   25	82.63%
   20	75.34%
   15	65.01%
   10	50.34%
   5	29.53%

5. Fund administration costs: A fund administration charge of no greater than 0.25% per year, plus any associated dealing costs, and these will be reviewed each year.
   
   
6. Switching charge: If you request a manually-processed switch, this will be charged at GBP 45 per switch, deducted from your accumulator units. Switching is performed on a bid-price to bid-price basis, which means that there is no extra cost applied during the sale and purchase of Hansard unit funds. You cannot switch units between separate contracts.

These charges can change from time to time and we would recommend checking Hansard International's website for the latest information.

Withdrawals:

• For regular contribution contracts, withdrawals are only permitted after you have made all contributions due in the first two contract years, or the second anniversary if this is later.
• For additional lump sum contribution contracts, withdrawals may be taken at any time. Withdrawals may only be taken from accumulator units, not from initial units or bonus units, and are subject to you maintaining the minimum accumulator unit value.
• The minimum withdrawal amount is GBP 150 (or currency equivalent). Hansard does not apply a charge for taking a withdrawal from your contract, but bank transfer costs may apply. If you have selected an additional guaranteed sum assured then this will be reduced by your withdrawal amount.

NOTE:

• The value of the plan would depend on the investment performance and you may not get back the money you have invested.
• We would highly recommend reading the 'expert verdict' section of this review to learn why our experts gave the Vantage Platinum II 1 out of 5 stars in this independent review.

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