Platinum Bond Plus
This product is no longer available to new customers
Platinum Bond Plus is a lump-sum ‘with-profits’ investment, which is designed to help your money to grow over the medium to long term (5 years or more). It is no longer available to new investors, but if you have already invested in our with-profits Bond, below are a few useful reminders about your investment, which covers:
- An overview of how the 'profits' are shared out with investors
- The current Bonus Rates and MVR rates which may apply
- The latest performance, and information about how we are managing your money
- A reminder of the charges which apply
It’s important to remember that this type of investment carries a degree of risk and its value can fall as well as rise, so you may get back less than you put in.
How the profits are shared out
- When you make an investment in Platinum Bond Plus, your money is pooled together with lots of other investors’ money in our ‘with-profits fund’. This fund is managed by a team of experienced investment professionals.
- Our investment experts aim to make profits for the fund, by investing in a variety of different investment types, like stocks and shares, property and corporate bonds.
- And because some of us want to invest for longer than others, we also have to make sure that everyone who invests in the ‘with profits fund’ is paid out a fair value for their investment when they come to cash it in.
- So, any profits from the investments made by our expert Fund Managers are added back to the ‘with profits fund’. And then shared-out amongst all the investors, by adding bonuses to their investments.
- Bonuses are shared out once a year (annual bonus), and a ‘final bonus’ may also be added to your Bond when you cash it in.
- And sometimes, when markets are not performing so well and these investments do not make a profit, any losses are also shared-out amongst all the investors. It makes it fairer over the long-term. This is called a Market Value Reduction (MVR) and may be applied at the end of your investment, when you cash in all or part of your Platinum Bond Plus.
- Basically, this means the investment returns are averaged-out, or ‘smoothed’ over the length of time you invest in Platinum Bond Plus. Because we share the profits and losses around, the returns from your investment in the ‘with-profits fund’ will be steadier and more stable than they would be from a fund which is more directly linked to the ups and downs of the stock market.
Annual Bonus
The Annual Bonus rate for the first year of your investment is guaranteed. If you invest in Platinum Bond Plus now, you will receive at least 3.25% bonus on the 1st anniversary of your investment, regardless of whether the overall bonus rate is reduced in that year. After the first year the rate of Bonus you receive may vary.
Special Anniversary Bonus
Depending on how much you invest, and providing you invest for a year or more, you will also receive a Special Anniversary Bonus on the 1st anniversary of your investment
| Amount you invest | Special Anniversary Bonus |
|---|---|
| Less than £5000 | No bonus |
| £5,000 – £9,999 | 1.25% |
| £10,000 - £12,499 | 2.50% |
| £12,500 - £14,999 | 2.75% |
| £15,000 - £19,999 | 3.00% |
| £20,000 - £29,999 | 3.25% |
| £30,000 - £49,999; | 3.50% |
| £50,000 and above | 3.75% |
Final Bonus
When you cash in your Bond, or in the event of death a Final Bonus may also be applied, to make sure you are paid-out a fair value for your investment at the time. Details of any Final Bonus will be included on your annual statement. Or, if you request a valuation of your Bond over the phone, we’ll include this for you as part of the valuation.
Market Value Reduction (MVR)
When you cash in your Bond a Market Value Reduction (MVR) may be applied, to make sure you are paid-out a fair value for your investment at the time. An MVR will not be applied in the event of death.
| Date you invested | MVR |
|---|---|
| 16/09/06 - 15/12/07 | 9.0% |
| 16/12/07 – 15/03/08 | 6.0% |
MVR = A percentage (%) of the original amount you invested, less any withdrawals.
You can find out more about MVRs and these rates, by reading our brochure
(Documentation will open as a PDF in a new windows).
Investment term
Platinum Bond Plus is a medium to long-term investment and there’s no fixed end date, so you can invest for as long as you like.
Investment limits
You can invest a minimum of £1000, up to a maximum of £250,000 as a lump sum. And you can open more than one Platinum Bond Plus if you like.
Income
You can make withdrawals from this investment, to give you a ‘regular income’. Up to 5% each year of the total amount you invested at the time without needing to pay any tax straight away.
Cashing in
You can cash in all, or just part of, your investment at any time. When you do, we need to ensure you are paid a fair value for your investment at that time, by applying a Final Bonus, to ‘top-up’ your investment, or a Market Value Reduction (MVR), which would reduce the value of your Bond. You should also remember that if you make a partial withdrawal this will reduce the value of your investment.
Death benefit
Platinum Bond Plus is also a life assurance policy. This means that a small amount of money is paid out if the policyholder dies while they hold their investment. This amount is equal to 101% of the value of the Bond at the time.
Statements
We will send you a statement once a year, on the anniversary of your investment, to let you know how it’s performing. Your statement will tell you whether an Annual Bonus has been added to your investment and the current Bonus Rate at the time, or whether any MVR applies at the time, if you were to cash in your investment.
You can request a valuation of your investment at any time by calling us on 08457 46 46 46.
How has the with-profits fund, and Platinum Bond Plus, been performing?
Investment returns
It’s important to remember that past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance, but if you’d invested £10,000 in Platinum Bond Plus during the last ten years, this table shows you what you would have got back.
| Duration of investment (years) | Surrender value at 1 August 2011(after rate changes) (£) | Rate of return obtained (% pa) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10,834.00 | 8.34 |
| 2 | 11,779.60 | 8.53 |
| 3 | 11,235.83 | 3.96 |
| 4 | 10,057.54 | 0.14 |
| 5 | 11,298.66 | 2.47 |
| 6 | 12,145.87 | 3.29 |
| 7 | 13,897.11 | 4.81 |
| 8 | 14,706.90 | 4.94 |
| 9 | 15,219.27 | 4.78 |
| 10 | 14,018.65 | 3.44 |
Asset mix (as at 31st May 2011)
The with-profits fund is made up of a variety of different types of investments (assets).
How we manage your investment
We produce a document called ‘The Principles and Practices of Financial Management’ which explains how The Co-operative Investments is managing the with-profits fund. You can find the latest version here.
(Documentation will open as a PDF in a new windows).
- The Principles and Practices of Financial Management (PDF - 0.4Mb)
We also produce a ‘customer friendly’ version of ‘The Principles and Practices of Financial Management’ which you may prefer.
(Documentation will open as a PDF in a new windows).
- The Principles and Practices of Financial Management (PDF - 0.4Mb)
When you invest in Platinum Bond Plus we make some charges for looking after and managing your money, to give it the best chance of achieving your investment goals.
Here is a summary of some of the important information.
| Charge | What’s this for | How is it calculated? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Charge | 4% | The one-off charge for making an investment in Platinum Bond Plus on ‘day one’ of your investment. | Calculated as a percentage of the amount you invest. |
| Yearly Expenses | 0.75% | The annual cost of us managing your money and investing it on your behalf. | From the profits of the ‘with-profits fund’ before any Bonuses are determined. |
We aim to keep these charges to a minimum and we will notify you if there are any changes.
What about tax?
Platinum Bond Plus can be a tax-efficient way to invest. In summary:
- Your basic rate of income tax and capital gains tax liability will be covered by us, for any growth of the investments in the ‘with-profits fund’. You are not able to recover this tax.
- If you choose to make withdrawals from this investment, to give you a ‘regular income’, you can do so up to 5% each year of the total amount you invested, without needing to pay any tax straight away.
You will find more information about taxation in our brochure, “Key Features of The Co-operative Platinum Bond Plus” which you received when you invested.
