Learn about Participating Funds and Bonuses

How will my policy be affected after bonus declaration?

The bonus rates are maintained for 2024.

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.

How are bonus rates determined?

Bonus rates declared are approved by the board of directors after written recommendation from the appointed actuary. When making the 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.

Can I withdraw the accumulated bonus?

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.

What information does the bonus statement contain?

The Annual Bonus Statement will give you details of the bonus declared, including the current and past three years’ reversionary bonus rates allocated. It will also provide details of the change in the illustrated values if the bonus rate of your policy has been adjusted.

The Annual Bonus Statement will be accompanied by the Participating Fund update for 2024. The Participating Fund update will inform you of the performance of our Par Fund in 2024, the asset mix, overview of the economic outlook and the allocation of annual bonuses to Par Policies for the year.

Why is the policy illustration projecting at higher values than what the company can achieve?

The policy illustration is meant to illustrate the potential level of policy benefits to policyholders, including the non-guaranteed elements, based on the prevailing outlook of the performance of the Par Fund. One of the key elements affecting the non-guaranteed policy benefits is investment returns which can vary from year to year.

The rates used in the illustration are not a reflection of the actual returns of both existing and future participating policies. The actual returns received for a participating policy will depend on the actual experience, including investment performance, of the Par Fund that will develop over the lifetime of the participating policy.

For policies where there is no revision in bonus rates, why are the "Illustrated Death Benefit" and "Illustrated Surrender Value" different from the illustrated values in my bonus statement last year?

The illustrated values will be different from the bonus statement last year 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 after the current year.

For example:

If your age today is 47, illustrated values this year are based on the year 2045 (20 years later from 2025). In the bonus statement last year, your age was 46 and illustrated values are based on the year 2044 (20 years later from 2024).

Why is "Illustrated Maturity Value" shown for some policies, and "Illustrated Surrender Value" and "Illustrated Death Benefit" shown for others?

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 2045 (20 years later)

If LA’s age is above 79 – the illustrated values are based on the year that the LA turns 99

For policies with survival benefit and/or cash bonus, the illustrated values exclude any survival benefit and/or cash bonus kept on deposit with Great Eastern.

You may refer to the original policy illustration for these values. 

How do I retrieve my bonus statement?

1. Sign in to the Great Eastern App using your Singpass or Great ID.

2. Tap More from the bottom menu.

3. Tap Documents.

4. You will see a list of your most recent eDocuments. Tap Statements at the top of the screen to view your statements.

5. Tap the statement you wish to view.

6. View your bonus statement.

I wish to receive hardcopy communications. How can I update my preference?

You may wish to update your preference via the following:

Log on to eConnect > Click View Profile > Correspondence Preference > Select Hardcopy

OR

Submit a request via the form here.

OR

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

I have other policies that are not reflected in this bonus statement. Why is this so?

This bonus statement is an annual statement applicable for participating policies which were in force at the end of 2023.

Updates for policies without Participating Funds will be reflected in a separate statement, and not together in the statement for policies with Participating Funds.