Understanding the Par funds

The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited

Great Eastern Life (Participating Fund 2) 
Previously known as The Overseas Assurance Corporation Limited (“OAC”)

The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited has been taking steps to merge its two insurance funds for its participating policies (being Participating Fund and Participating Fund 2) into one combined Participating Fund starting from 1 January 2023.

Please refer to the FAQs for more details.

 

Great Eastern is embracing sustainability and moving towards e-statements

Following the new regulatory change, we will be sending your Annual Bonus Updates digitally. You will receive an SMS notification when your Bonus Statement is ready for viewing. These statements will be sent progressively in August this year. Please ensure that you maintain valid contact details with us so you can continue to receive updates on your policy matters. Thank you for supporting us in our sustainability efforts.

If you prefer to receive future statements in hardcopy, please login to eConnect to update your statement preference

  • Log on to eConnect
  • Go to ‘View Profile’, select ‘My Profile’
  • Select ‘Correspondence Preference’
  • Indicate your preferred option

For successful submission, you will receive an SMS and/or email.

Policyholders who are 60 years old and above will continue to receive hardcopy statements.

Great Eastern Life Participating Fund

  • The reversionary bonus rates remain unchanged for 2021.
  • The terminal bonus rates on death/TPD remain unchanged for 2021.
  • The terminal bonus rates on maturity or surrender remain unchanged for 2021.
  • Cash bonus rates for cash bonus policies remain unchanged.

Great Eastern Life Participating Fund 2

  • The reversionary bonus rates, terminal bonus rates on death/TPD, maturity or surrender for 2021 have been adjusted for a small block of policies.
  • For the other policies, the reversionary bonus rates, terminal bonus rates on death/TPD, maturity or surrender remain unchanged for 2021.

Once declared and vested, bonuses are guaranteed and payable in the event of a claim. Future bonuses, including maturity or terminal bonuses, are projected. The actual bonus rates declared in the future may be higher or lower, depending largely on the investment climate and economic conditions.

The illustrated values will be different from last year’s bonus statement if your policy is a Whole Life policy and the Life Assured’s Age is between 45 to 79 as the illustrated values are based on the year that is 20 years later from current year.

For example:

If your age today is 47, illustrated values this year are based on the year 2042 (20 years later from 2022). In the last year’s bonus statement, your age will be 46 and illustrated values are based on the year 2041 (20 years later from 2021).

Bonus rates declared are approved by the Board of Directors after written recommendation from the Appointed Actuary. When making recommendation for the amount of bonus to be declared for each policy, the Appointed Actuary has to take into consideration key factors that will affect the surplus available for distribution. These key factors include not only the investment performance and the outlook of the performance of the Par Fund in the medium to long term; they also include the claim experience, expenses, surrenders and lapses. The cumulative effect of past investment performance would be different for different plans, depending on the year of issue and type of plan.

We will be sending the Bonus Statement for 2021 to all our policyholders by batches between July - October 2022. The statement will give you details of the bonus declared, including the current and past three years’ reversionary bonus rates allocated. The statement will also provide details of the change in the illustrated values if the bonus rate of your policy has been adjusted.

Hardcopy Statements together with the Participating Fund Update for 2021 will be mailed out to the policyholders who are

  • Aged 60 years old and above, or
  • Has previously opt for hardcopy communication from the Company

The statements will be sent out progressively in batches in July - October this year.

*The Annual Bonus Statement will be accompanied by the Participating Fund Update for 2020. The Participating Fund Update will inform policyholders of the performance of our Par Fund in 2021, the Asset Mix, overview of the economic outlook and the allocation of Annual Bonuses to Par Policies for the year. We have included explanatory notes and infographics in the Statement to help our policyholders understand the common insurance terms used as well as how illustrated values are derived.

You may wish to update your preference via the following:

OR

  • Call our Customer Service on 1800 248 2888 or email us at wecare-sg@greateasternlife.com

The Benefit Illustration (BIPS)/ Policy Illustration (PIPS) you received were for the purpose of illustration and are not guaranteed. The actual amount payable either at maturity or upon surrender will depend on the declared bonus rate and maturity / terminal bonus rate. The assumptions used in the calculation of the values are stated on the BIPS/ PIPS.

Insurance is primarily aimed at meeting protection needs. Depending on factors such as age of entry, health loading, plan type and sum assured, some policies may not break-even.

For example:

If you buy a policy (e.g. Living Assurance Policy Plus with CRB) at an older age of, say 55, the cost of protection against death, TPD and major illnesses not only increases with age, but also increases at an increasing rate. Hence, for a life assured who is older, a large portion of the premium is utilised to pay for the cost of protection, leaving a smaller portion of the premium for savings purpose. As a result, the surrender value/death benefit of the policy would not be able to “catch up” with the total premiums paid and the policy does not break-even.

Once declared, bonuses are guaranteed and are payable in the event of a claim.

We do not encourage you to withdraw the accumulated bonus prematurely. This is because you will be paid only the surrender value of the accumulated bonus. If you have short-term financial needs, you may wish to consider taking a policy loan instead. You can contact our Customer Service Officers at 1800-248-2888 for more information on policy loan.

We will be sending the Bonus Statement for 2021 to all our policyholders by batches in July - October 2022. For policies with Reversionary/Terminal Bonus, you will receive a Par Fund Update for 2021 together with your Statement. The Par Fund Update will give you details on the asset mix of the Par Fund, fund performance and economic outlook.

This Bonus Statement only reflects applicable participating policies yearly. In addition to this, the Cash Bonus will be allocated on the policy anniversary and the Cash Bonus Statement will be sent within one month from the date of allocation. Non-participating policies will not be reflected in the Statement.

For Endowment policies, we will show the “Illustrated Maturity Value”.

For Whole Life policies, we will show the “Illustrated Surrender Value” and “Illustrated Death Benefit” based on the Life Assured’s (LA) Age today as follows:-

  • If LA’s age is below 45 – the illustrated values are based on the year that the LA turns 65. 
  • If LA’s age is between 45 to 79 – the illustrated values are based on the year 2042 (20 years later).
  • If LA’s age is above 79 – the illustrated values are based on the year that the LA turns 99.

Please note that Illustration Values may exclude Survival Benefit and Cash Bonus, if any. You may refer to the original Policy Illustration for these values.
 

Note: The PPF Scheme protects life insurance policies (including riders) issued by licensed life insurers which are PPF Scheme members. The Scheme covers policies issued in Singapore by a licensed life insurer to both residents and non- residents of Singapore. It does not cover policies issued by overseas branches of a licensed life insurer incorporated in Singapore. Refer to this link for more details on PPF Scheme.