RL360 ORACLE
Who are RL360?
RL360 is based in the Isle of Man, conducting business in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the UK. The company operates worldwide, and besides the Isle of Man, has offices in Hong Kong, Lebanon, Malaysia and Dubai. RL360 provides offshore savings, protection and investment products for expats and local nationals around the world.
The firm boasts 70,000 policy holders in 170 countries. It is no longer part of Royal London (the UK group) separating from it several years ago. The firm’s mother company, International Financial Group (IFGL) employs 335 staff and manages $10 billion of assets for investors.
What is ORACLE?
RL360 Oracle is a lump sum investment/international savings plan issued in the Isle of Man by RL360 Insurance Company Limited (RL360). It has a wide range of tax efficient investment options available which offer the potential for growth, over the medium to long term.
RL360 Oracle is a lower lump sum investment plan offering guided architecture. It is available in seven plan currencies. Oracle can be used in a trust and also offers the ability to appoint an investment adviser. The guided fund range caters for almost all attitudes to risk.
If you are considering a RL360 Oracle then ensure you fully understand the local taxation position.
Life Assurance or Capital Redemption?
- Life assurance
An Oracle plan on a life assurance basis can be set up in one of two ways:
Single life — There is only 1 life assured and when they die the plan comes to an end.
Joint life last death — There can be up to 6 lives assured on the plan, and it comes to an end when the last life assured dies.
- Capital redemption
An Oracle plan on a capital redemption basis will remain in-force for a total of 99 years at which point it will mature and we will pay out the surrender value.
You cannot change the basis of your plan after it has been issued.
What are Sub-policies?
Oracle can be structured in up to 100 sub-policies. This is for added flexibility and may provide tax advantages depending on your location. Fewer sub-policies may be chosen if required, but unless this is detailed in your Oracle application RL360 will automatically set up the plan with 100 sub-policies.
Am I eligible for RL360’s Oracle?
Oracle is available to individuals, companies and trustees provided they are not subject to any legislation which prevents them from making an investment. Individuals need to be 18 years of age or older to apply for Oracle.
Where the plan basis is life assurance, RL360 cannot accept the application if the youngest life assured is older than 65 years of age.
What’s the investment choice?
Oracle planholders can invest into a defined range of approximately 350 investment funds.
Leading Fund Houses offer a wide choice of investment funds. You choose from 356* funds covering all the major world markets and investment classes. The funds section contains performance statistics which are updated monthly, fund prices which are updated daily and Fund Fact Sheets on each fund. RL360 review the fund range at periodic intervals throughout each year to make sure it remains suitable and up to date.
*as at July 1st 2019
Is the Oracle multi-currency?
Set up your plan in one of seven major world currencies — the British Pound (GBP), Euro (EUR), United States dollar (USD), Swiss franc (CHF), Australian dollar (AUD), Hong Kong dollar (HKD) or Japanese yen (JPY). The currency of your Oracle plan cannot be changed after issue.
Your plan will be valued in this currency and charges and fees will be deducted in this currency.
What’s the minimum amount I can contribute to my RL360 Oracle plan?
Premiums are subject to the minimum premium levels for your plan currency which in GBP are £20,000 initial and £2,500 additional. Initial and additional premiums paid into Oracle can be made in any currency that is acceptable to RL360.
How do I get a valuation or see my plan statements?
Keep up with your account, savings and investments at anytime 24/7 with the RL360 online platform, accessible from anywhere with internet access.
How is my payment allocated?
Oracle offers increased allocation from the start of the plan. The increased allocation rate given ranges from 100%, for the minimum payment of £20,000 up to 105% for payments in excess of £150,000.
What are the charges?
Oracle has been designed with a charging structure that can be tailored to best suit your needs. There are 2 main elements to the charging structure:
- Establishment charge — this is a charge that is taken over a 5 year period of time as a percentage of your premium. An early exit charge will apply during the same period. The range of the Establishment charge is 0% to 7.50%.
- Administration charge — this is a charge that is taken throughout the lifetime of your plan as a percentage of the higher of your premium or its current plan value. The range of the Administration charge is 0.60% to 1.20%.
No dealing or custody charges apply to your Oracle plan.
The investment fees applied will depend on the investments to which your Oracle plan is linked. Fees can include, but are not limited to, initial and annual management charges, performance fees and exit fees.
Fees are determined by the investment manager. In some cases RL360 will receive institutional discounts not available to individual investors, meaning that the initial charges that you have to pay will be lower than via direct investment.
Where RL360 is required to perform a foreign exchange (FX) transaction, this will be done at a rate determined by RL360, based on those commercially available in the market.
What bonuses are applicable?
The loyalty bonus of 0.50% of the plan value will be applied at the sixth plan anniversary and annually thereafter whilst the plan remains active. Furthermore, each additional payment (top up) will attract its own loyalty bonus calculated in the same way as described above.
What happens if I want to close the plan early, or withdraw some cash?
A partial surrender on your RL360 Oracle Plan may be treated as a one-off withdrawal. There are minimum acceptable one-off withdrawals, regular withdrawals and minimum Oracle plan values after a withdrawal.
(For example — in GBP regular and one-off withdrawal is = £250 — minimum plan value = £12,500 — note the minimum plan value must not drop below the figure shown or 15% of the premiums paid to date, whichever is the higher)
One-off and Regular withdrawals can be paid in an easily exchanged currency and can be taken monthly, quarterly, half yearly or yearly. Regular withdrawals can be set up when you apply for an Oracle plan or be requested at a later date.
A full encashment results in penalties being applied in the first 5 years through exit charges linked to the term of the plan. It is important to be aware that the RL360 Oracle Plan is a long term plan, if you decided to cancel the plan early you could lose a proportion of the money you have invested.
If you want to learn more about the RL360 Oracle product, click here.
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Review completed by Mike Coady
