Futura Whole Life Insurance

Part of the exceptional flexibility which this plan offers is the opportunity to change your protection package as your life and circumstances change. You can review the level of protection and benefits you require at any time, subject to satisfactory evidence of health and any other evidence which may be required, although your benefits and premiums can be automatically indexed to offset the effects of inflation. So while the plan provides you with lifetime cover, it can also be adapted regularly to accommodate changes along the way.

This plan offers a number of different approaches designed to suit your own financial situation.

Essentially, you start with the level of protection and benefits you wish to achieve, and then choose from a number of payment options and premium levels to provide those benefits. Selecting higher premiums initially is more likely to ensure that your fund value remains sufficient to maintain your chosen level of benefits for a longer period of time. Vanishing premium is the option whereby you pay a higher premium for a limited period of between 7 and 15 years, with the prospect of paying no more thereafter, but still receiving protection. Choosing to pay a lower amount may have an impact on long-term sustainability. Please contact HSBC for more information.

Your premiums will be reviewed upon major changes to benefits or premiums, and on every 5-year policy anniversary, to ensure that the premiums are sufficient to maintain your benefits for at least a further 5 years.

The ways in which you can make your payments are also flexible. You can pay a single premium or regular yearly, half-yearly, quarterly or monthly premiums. If you wish, you can pay a combination of single and regular premiums. Additional single premiums can be added at any time. Because this plan is designed to be flexible, payment may be increased, decreased, or even suspended on a temporary basis, provided that the value of your policy remains sufficient to support the benefits.

This policy can be denominated in one of a range of major currencies including pounds sterling, US dollars, and Euros, although you can make payments in any freely convertible currency. Your choice of policy currency automatically determines the currency in which your benefits will be stated.

Your policy will be automatically terminated when:

• The amount of death benefit sum insured is paid on death; or
• Your policy is encashed; or
• The paid up value of your policy can no longer sustain the cost of the benefits (the policy will lapse without value)

Once your Futura policy is issued, it can be adjusted automatically to help counter the effects of inflation. Choosing this ‘indexation’ option will mean that the level of your benefits and your premiums will be adjusted at a rate of 5% annually.

There is a grace period of three months from the date your premium is due. If contributions remain unpaid after this period, and your policy has acquired an encashment value, then Zurich International Life will make your Futura paid up with all benefits remaining in force. Even if your policy has been made paid up, you still have the option to reinstate it or encash it. When made paid up, additional benefits may continue except for waiver of premium benefit which will be discontinued. Reinstatement of a paid up policy may be subject to satisfactory evidence of health and other information. If a policy has not acquired an encashment value, it will lapse automatically without value.

If the policy is terminated early then there may be an encashment value. However, the plan is designed as a lifetime protection policy and any value is likely to be low compared with the premiums paid, especially in the early years.

You may encash your policy partially, only if the policy account is sustainable after the reduction of your benefits following such partial encashment.