Absa Retirement Annuity and Preservation Fund

Transcription

1 Wealth and Investment Management Unrestricted Absa Retirement Annuity and Preservation Fund Terms and Conditions Absa Investment Management Services Proprietary Limited Reg No 1980/002425/07 Authorised Financial Services Provider

2 Legal terms 1 Definitions 1.1 Applicable Legislation means the Pension Funds Act, the Income Tax Act and practice notes issued by the Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the rules of the funds and all other legislation applicable to the Funds. 1.2 AGL means Absa Group Limited and all its subsidiaries including us. 1.3 Business Day means any day of the week other than a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday. 1.4 Cap/Capping means the decision by a Manager to suspend the acceptance of further investments into a portfolio. 1.5 ETF means Exchange Traded Funds. 1.6 FAIS Act means the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act. 1.7 Form means the application form completed and signed by you. 1.8 Fund(s) means the Absa Pension Preservation or the Absa Provident Preservation Fund or the Absa Retirement Fund, as applicable. 1.9 Investments means the financial products, Portfolios or ETFs selected by you as underlying investments of the Policy Manager means the company managing a Portfolio or an ETF Policy means the Policy issued to you by Absa Life Portfolio(s) means the Collective Investment Scheme Portfolios made available to you by us Representative means the Authorised Financial Services Provider you have appointed as your Representative and shall include its Representatives Repurchase means to sell a Unit(s) Terms means these legal terms Unit(s) means any interest, undivided share, interest share or participatory interest, whether the value of which remains constant or varies from time to time Unit Trust(s) means a Collective Investment Scheme Us/We/Our means Absa Investment Management Services Proprietary Limited US Person means: any citizen of the United States of America ( US ) or natural person resident in the US; any partnership or corporation organised or incorporated under the laws of the US; any estate of which any executor or administrator is a US person; any agency or branch of a foreign entity located in the US; any trust of which any trustee is a US person; any non-discretionary account or similar account (other than an estate or trust) held by a dealer or other fiduciary organised, incorporated or resident in the US; and any partnership or corporation if: i) organised or incorporated under the laws of any foreign jurisdiction; and ii) formed by a US person principally for the purpose of investing in securities not registered under the Securities Act of 1933 of the US You means you, the investor who has completed and signed the Form and is bound by these Terms. 2 One agreement 2.1 The Form, these Terms, any quotation supplied to you and any supporting documents will form the basis of the contract between you, the Product Suppliers and us. Reference to the Form includes these Terms. Words defined in these Terms have the same meaning when used in the Form and our other forms. 2.2 Upon acceptance of your membership to the Fund, you acknowledge that you will be bound by the Applicable Legislation and any conditions of the Board of Trustees of the Fund. 2.3 We reserve the right to change these Terms when required by legislation, our operations or business needs. 2.4 Where the changes are relevant, we will advise you of the changes and how they affect you. You agree to check our Terms, on the applicable channels, from time to time. 2.5 You agree to be bound by the latest version of our Terms as amended. 2.6 In the event of any changes to your personal details, you agree to inform us as is required by the Financial Intelligence Centre Act. 2.7 We may, on notice to you, cede, assign, transfer and delegate any of our rights and obligations under these Terms to another entity or person without requiring your consent. You may not cede, assign, transfer and/or delegate any of your rights and obligations under these Terms to another person without our written consent. 2.8 No provision of this application form is intended to induce or in any manner request a client to waive any right or benefit conferred onto the client by any applicable legislation.

3 3 Our role 3.1 Our role is to administer the Fund, offer you the opportunity to invest in the Fund and to carry out any instructions you may give in relation to the Annuity. 3.2 You acknowledge that you are aware of the nature and risk associated with the Investments. You also acknowledge that you have not placed any reliance on information supplied by us in selecting the Investments. 3.3 If you terminate your relationship with your Representative and you intend appointing another Representative, you must inform us of this fact in writing and we will, in turn, notify your Representative. We will thereafter pay any annual fees to the new Representative unless advised to the contrary by you. 4 Your instructions 4.1 We will only accept written instructions from you. Your written instructions may be sent to us by hand, via the postal service, facsimile, or any other means we may agree to in the future. 4.2 We will only accept instructions from your Representative if they have been approved as a discretionary Financial Services Provider in terms of the FAIS Act and an approved mandate signed by you has been submitted to us, setting out the terms of your Representative s discretion. 4.3 We will not process any unclear, incomplete or ambiguous instructions sent to us. 4.4 You hereby indemnify and hold us harmless for any direct losses or damages you may suffer as a result of sending instructions or documents by facsimile, , or us acting on any purported faxed or ed instructions, or documents sent from your facsimile number or address. 4.5 Any instructions or documents sent via facsimile or channels are at your own risk, including the risk of delay, non-receipt or third party interception. 4.6 We will use our reasonable endeavours to ensure that we carry out your instructions within a period reasonable to the nature of the instruction and in accordance with our own timing standards set out in the Form. However, there may be circumstances beyond our control which might lead to us not being able to adhere to our timing standards. 5 Investment selection 5.1 The choice of Investments is always yours or as advised to us by your Representative. In selecting the Investments, you acknowledge that you did not rely on any information supplied by us and that you made your selection on your own accord or upon the advice of your Representative. 5.2 You or your Representative may select exchange ETFs we make available from time to time. The maximum number of whole securities that can be purchased with the available investment amount will be rounded down and any excess cash will be held in the Client Cash Movement Account. No securities will be purchased until the cash balance in your account is greater than R150 and sufficient to purchase at least one whole security. 5.3 We do not guarantee the performance of the Investments and should any guarantee be available, this will be derived from the Product Supplier. We will not in any way be liable for the performance or non-performance of the Investments. 5.4 Where the selected Investment is the Absa Protected Accumulator Portfolio, investment into it will be as part of a wrap fund with up to 1.5% being invested into the Absa Money Market Fund and 98.5% into the Absa Protected Accumulator Portfolio. Absa Life shall provide a guarantee on the Unit price of the Absa Protected Accumulator Portfolio as calculated and set on a monthly basis. 5.5 Any Investments chosen by you shall be subject to the prudent investment guidelines for Funds, laid down in Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act, details of which are available upon request. 5.6 Where you have selected the Core Portfolio as the underlying solution, the following shall apply: You will be invested through the life-stage model in terms whereof there is a passive investment strategy whose aim will be to meet your saving requirements, working towards either your normal retirement age or your planned retirement age. In light of the nature of the life-stage model, you specifically agree that you will not have the choice to make a selection in respect of the Investments contained in the Portfolios and furthermore, you will not have a discretion to exercise nor have a choice with regards to the Investments being switched from one Portfolio to another in accordance with the life-stage, except where you have changed your planned retirement age. 5.7 You understand that the legal and tax environment is continually changing and that we cannot be held responsible for any changes to legislation which might have an effect on your Investments, or tax implications which did not exist at the time your Investment was made. 6 Custody of investments Any Portfolios or ETFs you are invested in will be held on your behalf, in the name of AIMS Nominees (RF) Proprietary Limited. Such Portfolios or ETFs selected will be administered by us on your behalf but always subject to any terms and conditions of the Manager. These terms and conditions may be contained in a Collective Investment Scheme trust deed, or any other documentation which might be applicable, copies of which may be obtained from the Manager on request. 7 Distributions 7.1 Distributions on Portfolios will automatically be reinvested in order to purchase additional Units. 7.2 Distributions on ETFs will automatically be reinvested into the Client Cash Movement Account. No securities will be purchased until the cash balance in your account is greater than R150 and sufficient to purchase at least one whole security.

4 8 Fees and charges 8.1 You acknowledge that your Representative is entitled to fees. You hereby authorise us to deduct any such fees from your Investments and to pay the fees to your Representative. 8.2 In the case of an annual fee, it will be calculated daily and paid out monthly in arrears to your Representative. 8.3 Should you make a full redemption of your Investments in the course of a month but before we make payment of the fees to your Representative, your Representative will not receive payment for the month in question. You confirm that you have advised your Representative of this fact. 8.4 We will charge you an annual administration fee. This fee is calculated on the market value of the Units held in an Investment. 8.5 Investment management fees will also be levied and these will vary and depend on the Manager. 8.6 We may increase our fees after 3 (three) months, prior written notice to you. 8.7 Certain fees may be levied by the Product Suppliers and these will depend on the Investments and the Product Supplier. 8.8 We may, in respect of certain Investments, receive fee reductions from the Product Suppliers for having placed Investments with them. 8.9 Where you have selected disinvestments for fees and income from specific Portfolios and the funds in those chosen Portfolios have been depleted and we have not been instructed to disinvest the fees or income from an alternative Portfolio, then we will by default disinvest the fees or income pro-rata from the remaining funds Where our Distribution Portfolio has been selected as the fee deduction Portfolio, but does not form part of your Investments, then we have the right to deduct the fees pro-rata from the current funds in your Investments. 9 Payment of interest 9.1 You will earn interest from 16:00 on the second business day after AIMS receives your new contribution(s) into its nominated bank account. 9.2 The accrued interest will be paid into your Investment when the investment transaction is effected by AIMS on your behalf. 10 Capping of Portfolios 10.1 Should we Cap any Portfolio, we will inform you of the Cap and also request your instructions about which Portfolio we should invest your further monthly contributions If we do not receive instructions from you about where to invest your contributions, we will invest the contributions into a Money Market Portfolio until the Cap is lifted or we receive your instructions After lifting the Cap, we will reinvest your contributions into the relevant Portfolio. 11 Unit Trust disclosures You acknowledge that you are aware of the following: 11.1 There are risks associated with Investments in Unit Trusts Investments in Unit Trusts are generally medium- to long-term Investments The value of Units may go down as well as up. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance Fluctuations or movements in exchange rates may cause the value of underlying international investments in Portfolios to move up or down Unit Trusts are traded at ruling prices A Manager may borrow up to 10% of the market value of a Portfolio to accommodate insufficient liquidity Securities in a Portfolio may be lent to borrowers, subject to such conditions as are imposed by the deed of a Portfolio Income from the Portfolios is distributed monthly, quarterly and half-yearly and may only be paid out into an account as nominated by you Unit Trusts are financial products and not investments in insurance policies with an insurer and therefore, cooling-off periods do not apply Managers do not provide any guarantee either with respect to the capital or the return of a Portfolio Directors and personnel of a Manager may be invested in the Portfolios Managers hold professional indemnity cover Investments in Portfolios with foreign securities may involve various material risks, which include potential constraints on liquidity and the repatriation of funds, macro-economic, political, foreign exchange, tax and settlement risks and potential limitations on the availability of market information. In respect of Investments into a Money Market Portfolio, you acknowledge that you are aware that: The Money Market is not a bank deposit account A constant Unit price of R1 will be maintained although, owing to circumstances, it may be changed to a lower amount Your total return is made of interest received and any gain or loss made on any particular instrument In most cases, the return will merely have the effect of increasing or decreasing the daily yield, but in cases of abnormal losses it can have the effect of reducing the capital value The yield is calculated using an annualised 7 (seven) day rolling average Excessive withdrawals may place liquidity pressures and in such circumstances a process of ring-fencing of withdrawal instructions and managed pay-outs over time may be followed.

5 12 Taxes and payment 12.1 You acknowledge that income tax and/or capital gains tax may be levied on certain benefits accruing to you from certain Investments in the Account and that the Product Suppliers may be required to deduct and pay over to the authorities any such tax from such benefits before paying any balance to you Unless you are exempt and have provided us with a signed declaration form to this effect, your Investments may be subject to dividend and interest withholding taxes, at the prescribed rate. We are required by law to withhold dividends and interest taxes and pay it over to the South African Revenue Services. 13 Death and beneficiaries 13.1 On your death, the funds held in your selected Investments shall remain in the Investment last selected by you, unless you have indicated in writing to us that after your death, such funds be switched to a call account approved by us, where they shall remain until they are paid in accordance with the provisions of section 37C of the Pension Funds Act Should you die before your withdrawal or retirement from the Fund, the benefits that accrue in terms of the rules of the Fund shall be dealt with in terms of the provisions of the Pension Funds Act, specifically section 37C thereof You may appoint in writing one or more nominees to receive any benefits referred to above, or may also change any such appointment from time to time in writing, provided that any such appointment shall be of no force or effect until it has been delivered to us You acknowledge that section 37C referred to above requires the board of the Fund to make an equitable distribution of the benefits of the Fund between any nominees and your dependents, as defined in the Pension Funds Act. Any appointment of a nominee(s) will therefore not necessarily mean that such nominee(s) will receive the benefits in the proportion stated by you, but such proportion will assist the board in making their decision. 14 Compliance with Applicable Law 14.1 As part of BAGL, we are committed to complying with national and international law, rules and regulations and policies regarding the combating of criminal activities, money laundering and terrorist financing Your application and all information concerning you are subject to verification, processing, screening and profiling. We may be obliged to decline your application or may request additional documents such as financial statements and asset and liability statements if you fall in a certain risk category After acceptance of your application, all information, instructions and transactions on your behalf will be subject to continuous screening and profiling which may prohibit, limit or delay the execution thereof and which may oblige us to terminate our relationship with you To the extent allowed by law, we will inform you of any prohibitions or limitations on your application, instructions or transactions We, our respective affiliates, employees, officers and directors will not be liable for any special, punitive, indirect or consequential losses or damages, including, without limitation, loss of profits or any anticipated savings. 15 Written report and statements 15.1 You may request a written report from us at any time, detailing the composition of your Investments, the market values and any changes You hereby authorise us to make any such report available to your Representative You may also access such information as contained in the report on a continuous basis via our contact centre on or from our internet site, at absainvestments.co.za 15.4 Should we not receive any notification within 30 (thirty) days of the statement having been sent out to you, that the statement contains errors, or is not a true reflection of your Investment, then we shall be entitled to regard the statement as being correct in every way Market values displayed on statements or any other documentation are illustrative. Values payable on withdrawal/surrender may be restricted by legislation where applicable. The values shown on statements reflect the latest information available as at the statement date. 16 US person 16.1 You confirm that you are not a US person and agree and promise to inform us as soon as you become a US person during your relationship with us If you become a US person during your relationship with us, we have the right to end the relationship with immediate effect If you are a US person, we have the right to decline your application. 17 Disclosure and unclaimed assets You acknowledge that you are aware of the following: 17.1 your right to your unclaimed assets will remain intact until they have been paid to you, regardless of the timeframe; 17.2 upon the happening of a trigger event, we will take the following steps in an attempt to contact or trace you; 17.3 within 6 (six) months of the happening of a trigger event, we will contact you in order to advise you of your unclaimed assets, using both internal and external information available to us; 17.4 within 3 (three)years after the happening of a trigger event, we will contact you in order to advise you of your unclaimed assets, using both internal and external information available to us. Should we reach you and inform you of your unclaimed assets and you do not act on our information, we will not take any further steps; 17.5 within 10 (ten) years after the happening of a trigger event, we will contact you in order to advise you of your unclaimed assets, using both internal and external information available to us. Should we not be able to reach you, we will request an external tracing company to trace you; 17.6 you are and will remain responsible for ensuring that your contact information with us is at all times kept up to date; 17.7 there will be direct administrative, tracing and management costs associated with unclaimed assets and which may change from

6 time to time and such changes will be communicated to you in writing during the existence of your relationship with us; 17.8 as a condition of your Investment, we are entitled to recover any reasonable direct administrative, tracing and management costs from you by deducting these costs from the value of your unclaimed assets once we have located you; 17.9 where applicable, your unclaimed assets will be invested in a money market fund selected by us until such time as we have been able to trace you and you give us different instructions; and for the purpose of facilitating your tracing in the future, you hereby consent to us sharing your personal information with our appointed external tracing company, in compliance with legislation relating to the sharing of personal information. 18 Conflict of interest disclosure 18.1 AIMS is mandated by a number of companies and other Authorised Financial Services Providers to market their products. A list of these is available on request. AIMS is part of the Absa Group of companies Apart from Absa Group Product Suppliers, AIMS does not directly or indirectly hold more than 10% of any other Product Suppliers shares or equivalent financial interest The financial statements of AIMS as at the end of the preceding financial year shall, if applicable, reflect whether AIMS has received more than 30% of its total remuneration, including commission, from any one supplier herein. The list of AIMS accredited products from the above mandated companies will be made available to you by the AIMS Representative on request Absa complies with the Code of Conduct of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act and the provisions dealing with Conflict of Interest. A detailed policy can be found at absa.co.za/content/dam/south-africa/absa/pdf/compliance/ Policy-Statement-Conflicts-of- Interest.pdf Timing standards The cut-off times within which an instruction must be received by AIMS for processing, are as follows: 1 New business: A fully compliant application form submitted to AIMS, with the funds deposited into the product bank account on or before 13:00 will be processed on the AIMS system within 2 (two) business days. A fully compliant application submitted after 13:00 will be processed within 3 (three) business days. The selected Unit Trust Funds will be purchased the business day following the day the application is processed. The investor will receive the closing price of this day. Where an Exchange Traded Fund has been selected, whole shares will be purchased the business day following the day the application is processed. The investor will receive a spot price during this day. Any remaining balance of the investment amount will be held in the Client Cash Movement Account. Where the Absa Protected Accumulator Portfolio has, in part or in whole, been selected as the investment portfolio, the fully compliant application form must be received by AIMS before 13:00 by the 25th (twenty fifth) of each month, or the previous business day, should the 25th (twenty fifth) fall on a weekend or a public holiday. The placement of the funds will take place on the 1st (first) business day of each month. The policy document detailing the investment will only be issued after the placement of the funds has taken place. 2 Withdrawals/retirement: A fully compliant repurchase request form submitted to AIMS on or before 13:00 will be processed on the AIMS system within 2 (two) business days. A fully compliant repurchase request form submitted after 13:00 will be processed within 3 (three) business days. The selected Unit Trust Funds will be redeemed the business day following the day the request is processed and the member will receive the closing price of this day. Once any applicable tax directive or other regulatory requirements have been received, the proceeds will be either paid to the member, less any tax if applicable or transferred to another Fund. Where an Exchange Traded Fund is selected, whole shares will be redeemed the business day following the day the request is processed and the member will receive a spot price for this date. Once any applicable tax directive or other regulatory requirements have been received, the proceeds will be either paid to the member, less any tax if applicable or transferred. The proceeds may differ from the amount requested as only whole shares can be redeemed. Any fully compliant instruction to withdraw, retire or transfer from the Absa Protected Accumulator Portfolio must be received by AIMS before 13:00 by the 25th (twenty fifth) of each month or the previous business day, should the 25th fall on a weekend or a public holiday. The instruction to the Product Supplier will take place the 1st business day of each month. Once any applicable tax directive or other regulatory requirements have been received, the proceeds will be paid to the member less any tax if applicable, or transferred to another Fund. Preservation Funds: Legislation permits only one full or partial withdrawal prior to retirement. Once the Units are sold and priced, a tax directive is electronically applied for. The monies can only be paid, less any tax payable, once the tax directive is received from the South African Revenue Services. A tax directive usually takes 2 (two) days to be received from SARS. In total, Preservation Funds can take up to 10 (ten) business days to be paid out, provided that the tax directive received from SARS has not been declined. Retirement Annuity: Legislation does not permit any withdrawal prior to retirement unless the Fund value is equal to or less than R or in the event that the member is emigrating from the Republic of South Africa, in which case it should be a 100% withdrawal. In these instances, once the Units are sold and priced, a tax directive is electronically applied for. The monies can only be paid, less any tax payable, once the tax directive is received from SARS. In total, retirement annuities can take up to 10 (ten) business days to be paid out, provided that the tax directive received from SARS has not been declined. 3 General: Certain rebalancing activities, requiring a minimum of 10 (ten) working days to complete, may occur at adhoc times for a specific Fund/Portfolio and during these periods, no transactions will be processed. AIMS will not be held liable for any losses that may occur during such a period as a result of market fluctuations, due to the fact that AIMS could not process the instruction as received.

7 Specific Terms and Conditions for Personal Share Portfolio 1 Definitions 1.1 PSP Manager means the investment manager appointed to manage your PSP. 1.2 PSP means your Personal Share Portfolio. 2 AIMS has entered into an Investment Management agreement with pre-selected Stockbrokers that are members of the JSE Ltd to manage the Personal Share Portfolio. 2.1 The PSP Manager provider is responsible for the portfolio management of all assets in the PSP. 2.2 You will be investing into a PSP with a pre-approved asset allocation that may include listed shares, listed debt instruments like bonds, listed property, cash and other specifically agreed securities. These Terms will be in your agreement with your PSP provider. 2.3 The PSP provider will always process instructions we have submitted, as such, at no time may you cancel or change such instruction with the PSP portfolio manager. 2.4 As your investment is through a Retirement Fund, the investment shall be in the name of the Retirement Fund but in a BDA account specifically designated to you. 3 New business instruction: Where a fully completed and accurate application form and all supporting documents are received by AIMS before 13:00 on the 1st (first) business day (and where the relevant funds have been credited to the appropriate Nominee bank account), the instruction request to create the BDA account number will be forwarded to the Portfolio Manager. Your cash deposit will be held in the custody account and will not be invested into the market. The investment instruction will be forwarded to the Portfolio Manager within 2 (two) business days of receiving the BDA account number. The Portfolio Manager has the authority to decline the opening of the account, should all outstanding documentation not be provided or if you fall into certain risk categories. The Client will be informed in writing of any rejections by AIMS or the Portfolio Manager. The Client indemnifies AIMS and the Portfolio Manager against any loss of any nature which may arise should any funds, credited to a Nominee bank account, as contemplated above, be reversed for any reason. Retirement Annuity, Pension and Provident Preservation - A minimum of 2% on any Personal Share Portfolio Investment will be allocated and maintained in the Absa Money Market fund on the initial gross investment amount and quarterly thereafter. 4 Switch instruction: Where a fully completed and accurate instruction is received by AIMS head office before close of business on the 1st (first) business day, the switch into the new Portfolio will be completed and the process as followed in the New Business Process will apply. 4.1 The Client acknowledges and understands that if the total investment value in the Personal Share Portfolio is less than the Portfolio Manager's minimum investment amount at any time during the duration of the contract, the Client will be obliged to switch 100% of the Personal Share Portfolio value into a Collective Investment Scheme Portfolio. 4.2 This contract will become effective once AIMS and the Portfolio Manager have accepted the application and the Portfolio Manager has approved the Client and received the investment funds. AIMS will transfer the net investment amount to the Portfolio Manager as indicated on the Application Form. The Portfolio Manager will then invest the funds in accordance with the Portfolio selected by the Client. The Portfolio Manager will contact the Client to verify the Personal Share Portfolio choice, asset allocation and disclose the Portfolio Manager fees. 4.3 The fees and charges levied by the Portfolio Manager: The Investment Management fee may vary at the discretion of the Portfolio Manager. The Portfolio Manager fee shall be calculated and charged as a percentage of the market value of the Portfolio on a monthly basis. The fee will firstly be deducted from the cash portion of the Personal Share Portfolio, otherwise securities will be sold at the discretion of the Portfolio Manager. The Portfolio Manager shall charge a Brokerage fee per trade with the discretion of the Portfolio Manager, to vary the charge per trade. The Brokerage fee will be charged upon execution of the trade. The Portfolio Manager undertakes to deduct from the Portfolios all Taxes, STRATE, JSE and other applicable charges. 4.4 The Client understands that where he/she switches to other Portfolios, different or new cost structures may apply and that it is the Client's responsibility, or where applicable, that of the Client's Financial Services Provider, to determine the relevant cost structures prior to conducting a switch. 5 Reporting to the Client: 5.1 The Client can obtain detailed information regarding the underlying investment of the Personal Share Portfolio directly from the Portfolio Manager. We will use the information your PSP provider sends us for your PSP holdings to calculate a Market Value for reporting on our statements. 5.2 Notional unit prices are calculated for the Personal Share Portfolio based on the values of the Portfolio, as received by the Portfolio Manager on a daily basis. 6 Unless otherwise specified through Portfolio nomination for fee deduction, AIMS will deduct all charges from call accounts and Money Market Portfolios first. Thereafter, charges will be deducted proportionately from other Portfolios. If a charge is deducted from a Personal Share Portfolio, the charge will firstly be deducted from the cash portion of the Personal Share Portfolio, otherwise securities will be sold at the discretion of the Portfolio Manager. 7 Recurring debit orders are not allowed on Personal Share Portfolios. 8 The Client agrees to pay the Portfolio Manager the charges specified in this document. Such charges shall be calculated and charged as indicated. Portfolio Manager shall be entitled to increase the charges charged to the Client by giving the Client three months prior notice of such an increase. 8.1 The following additional documents with be required: Risk profile Needs analysis and investment objective Record of Advice Mandate