Sterling enhances investment bond says Zurich

In a bid to provide intermediaries and their clients with greater investment choice and flexibility, Sterling has made some exciting new enhancements aimed to further strengthen the Sterling Bond proposition.

The new enhancements include:

The addition of an Accidental Death Benefit
The option to reduce the standard Death Benefit Guarantee in favour of extra allocation
The addition of fund-specific regular withdrawals

Sterling’s death benefit options have been, and remain, a key element of the overall proposition. In a bid to further strengthen that offering, Sterling has made the following enhancements to the death benefit options:

Accidental Death Benefit: Sterling now offers, free of charge to customers, a new automatic death benefit through the Bond. The Accidental Death Benefit is provided in addition to the standard death benefit guarantee and the enhanced death benefit guarantee added to the Bond earlier this year. This new feature will pay 110% of the fund value if an accidental death occurs within the first 10 years.

The option to reduce the standard Death Benefit Guarantee in favour of extra allocation. To provide even more choice and flexibility, investors can also choose to reduce Sterling’s unique standard death benefit guarantee in favour of an extra 0.5% allocation. If this option is chosen, the death benefit would be 100.1% of the value of their investment bond, less any withdrawals. If the death occurs as a result of an accident, the Accidental Death Benefit of 110% would apply.

In addition to the enhancements to the death benefit guarantees, Sterling has also introduced the facility to take fund-specific regular withdrawals. With increased focus from IFAs and clients on asset allocation, fund selection and yield, Sterling has now introduced a facility for investors to target specific funds that they would like regular withdrawals taken from as a monetary amount, instead of a percentage. This gives greater certainty of income, as it won’t be affected by fluctuations in the value of the investment. Monetary amounts can be withdrawn from specified funds, up to a maximum of 20 funds.

Paul Wright, Investment Management Director comments : “The death benefit options currently available through the Bond are a key part of our offering and remain very popular with advisers and their customers. The new death benefit options further strengthen that offering and means that we now have the most comprehensive range of death benefits available, designed to meet the needs of all customers.

Wright continues: “The Sterling Investment Bond is an extremely popular investment vehicle due to its flexibility, as well as providing access to over 170 funds through over 30 fund management groups. We believe that IFAs will welcome the new enhancements which allow us to offer an even more flexible solution.”