BOV ups its pensons plans with special limited-time offer

Bank of Valletta, together with MAPFRE MSV life is launching a special limited-time offer with its Pension Plans. During this period, customers who take up a unitlinked personal pension plan with the Bank will be given a top up of €175 when the new plan is set up and the first premium paid by the policyholder is allocated.

Pension plans offered by Bank of Valletta are truly affordable, as Ms Tonia Parascandalo from Business Generation at BOV Wealth Management explained. “Customers may take up a pension plan with as little as €40 monthly.” In addition, policy holders are free to make changes in their contribution at any time, while contribution breaks are also allowed. “The minimum contribution is low, so more people are encouraged to start saving for their retirement. The earlier one plans for this critical time in life, the more they will benefit later,” she remarked.

Moreover, in taking up a Personal Pension Plan, a customer becomes eligible to benefit from tax credits provided by the government. Presently, the tax credit is 25% of the contributions made by the qualifying policy holder in a given year, up to a maximum tax credit of €750 per person annually. In addition, at retirement, one may choose to receive up to 30% of the fund value tax free. The remaining balance may be used by the policy holder as an additional regular income.

The Bank offers personal pension plans that are either ‘With Profits’ or ‘Unit Linked’. The ‘With Profits’ pension plans offer capital protection, whilst enabling the policy holder to benefit from regular bonuses that are distributed and added to the policy annually. In the case of the Unit Linked plans, it is the policyholder who links the value of contributions to a number of funds in which s/he wants to invest. The value of the policy will fluctuate over the years according to the market and the underlying assets.

Speaking about the options available, Ms Tonia Parascandalo explained, “As a policyholder, one may choose to invest in as many as ten funds concurrently. Furthermore, one may opt to switch between funds at any point in time, with the first two switches in any year free of charge.” She went on to explain that more and more people are realizing the importance of supplementing the standard pension with a retirement pension. The unit-linked type of pension plans are ideal tools, geared for capital growth and appreciation over time”.

The Unit Linked Pension Plans give the policy holder access to a broad spectrum of funds, some of which are specifically geared for retirement planning. For instance, they may be linked to the Bank’s suite of Portfolio Funds and Lifestyle Funds offered by Fidelity Investments.

These funds cater for any type of risk appetite, be it cautious, balanced or the more aggressive. In this manner, they are ideal instruments because they offer the flexibility of combining or switching from one type to another, according to customer’s risk appetite or personal circumstances.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Bank’s suite of Pension Plans is invited to set an appointment with the BOV Branch of choice by visiting https://www.bov.com/Content/insurance---retirementplanning , send an email on bancassurance@bov.com or call on telephone number 2275 1627.