Notification of closure of R69 DWS Noor Precious Metals Securities fund

29 Apr 2024

R69 DWS Noor Precious Metals Securities (the “Closing Mirror Fund)

We continually monitor our fund range in order to achieve the quality and diversity for our international investors. Due to the small size and lack of demand from Friends Provident International Limited (“FPIL), FPIL has made the decision to close R69 DWS Noor Precious Metals Securities fund (the “Closing Mirror Fund”). The Closing Mirror Fund will be removed from the FPIL fund range from 30 July 2024 (the “Effective Date”). 

Effective immediately, only continuing regular contributions will be permitted into the Closing Mirror Fund. No new single or regular contributions will be permitted into the Closing Mirror Fund, whether from new or existing investors.

When an FPIL fund is closed, we select another fund from our internal fund range (the “Default Mirror Fund”) to act as an alternative investment for the resulting proceeds being switched out of the closing fund. 

Existing holdings in the Closing Mirror Fund will be automatically redirected into the Default Mirror Fund on the Effective Date. Where applicable, any future regular premium or contributions into the Closing Mirror Fund will also be redirected into the Default Mirror Fund from the Effective Date.

The Default Mirror Fund we have selected from the available fund range is P59 HSBC Islamic Global Equity, which is a Sharia compliant Islamic Global Equity sector fund.

We select the Default Mirror Fund based on various factors, which include but are not limited to (1) investment objective and strategy, (2) assets mix, (3) risk profile and (4) currency denomination. You should be aware that the Default Mirror Fund has a different investment style and investment sector exposure to the Closing Mirror Fund. Please refer to the Appendix in the Sample Client Communication opposite for comparison details between the Closing Mirror Fund and the Default Mirror Fund. 

Whilst appropriate due diligence has been carried out on the Closing Mirror Fund we do not accept any liability for the future performance of this, or any other FPIL mirror fund.

These changes will happen automatically within affected policies/contracts and policyholders do not need to take any action if they agree with the choice of Default Mirror Fund that we have selected.  

Policyholders can choose to switch their current holdings, and/or redirect regular contributions if applicable, into a different fund in the FPIL range.  This can be done at any time, however in order to override the transfer and/or redirection to the Closing Mirror Fund that we have selected, will require alternative instructions by 3pm UK time on 29 July 2024.

Factsheets for the available FPIL fund can be found via our interactive Fund Centre research tool.  Full details on the underlying funds of the mirror funds can be found in the fund prospectus, which is available on request.

We have contacted impacted policyholders and their financial advisers to notify them of the changes; primarily by e-shot, with letters sent by post where we do not hold a valid email, and to those who prefer to receive letters by post.

We recommend that policyholders seek the advice of their usual investment adviser before making any investment decisions.

Should you have any questions regarding this notification, please contact the Investment Marketing Team.