Collective Investment Vehicle charges

1. What is a CIV or a CIS?

A collective investment vehicle is essentially a fund where different investors’ money is pooled to invest in different securities.

CIVs or CISs, as they are sometimes known, are Collective Investment Vehicles or Schemes established for the purpose of investing the pooled funds of investors (held as units or shares) in assets in accordance with investment objectives and investment policies published in a prospectus.

CIVs may include, but are not limited to, the following structures:

• Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicle (“ICAV”)
• Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS)
• Société d'investissement à capital variable (SICAV)
• Société d'investissement à capital fixe (SICAF)
• Exchange Traded Funds (ETF)
• Open Ended Investment Company (OEIC)

2. What do the additional charges represent?

Where a fund invests in another fund, additional charges may apply which may vary depending on the specific investments in each fund. These charges are an estimate of any additional charges associated with the underlying investments of the fund. The estimated additional charges are based on recent available expense data for the investments and may change in the future.

3. Why is it an “estimated” CIV charge?

The charge is estimated as it is based on the previous investment strategy of the fund manager and the recent available expense data for those investments.
The fund manager may have discretion to invest in CIVs and so may invest in a higher or lower proportion of CIVs in future. The expenses incurred by those CIVs may also vary from past experience.

4. Why does this charge change regularly?

The costs of running a fund vary.

Each CIV calculates a Total Expense Ratio (TER) or an Ongoing Charges Figure (OCF) at least yearly.

A TER or OCF will typically include all expenses of the CIV such as:

• Management fees and expenses
• Administration fees and expenses
• Custody fees and expenses
• Audit fees
• Transfer agency fees and expenses
• Distribution or marketing costs
• Legal fees
• Registration and regulatory fees
• Remuneration payable to the management company or investment manager (or other party) under any fee-sharing arrangement, the values of which will change.

5. Why does my fund invest in a CIV if it incurs an additional charge?

A fund manager may elect to invest in these funds where they believe they will deliver better risk adjusted returns or enhance diversification for the customer, for example:

• To gain exposure to specialist areas e.g. emerging markets bonds, where the fund manager does not have in-house capability
• To increase the asset diversification of the fund and reduce transaction costs through economies of scale of pooled investing
• It may help provide liquidity for illiquid assets such as property.

6. What is the CIV charge for the fund I am invested in?

There is a table below which provides an estimated CIV charge for each fund.

It is important to note that a fund may hold a CIV in the future (if allowable under the investment mandate of the fund) and hence the values may change. In addition to this, the estimated additional charges are based on recent available expense data for the investments and may change in the future.

Please note that the table below relates to CIV charges (rounded to 2 decimal places) only – it does not include any annual management charge, product charges or other charges which may apply.

7. Does this affect all of my policies?

It affects all of your policies investing in a fund which currently invest in CIVs.

A fund may hold a CIV in the future (if allowable under the investment mandate of the fund).

Appendix 1 – Table of Estimated CIV Charges

Where a fund invests in another fund(s), additional charges may apply. These charges may vary depending on the specific investments in each fund. Where these charges are applied, they are reflected in the unit price.

The below table sets out the estimated charges based on recent available expense data and may change in future.

The charges shown are estimated CIV charges (rounded to 2 decimal places) only. They do not include any annual management charges, product charges or other charges which may apply.