Investments
Premiere Account
An open architecture international bond for larger portfolios, giving access to collectives, equities, structured notes and a discretionary manager inside one wrapper.
Trinity College, Dublin · Diliff, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who it is for
Broker-introduced clients investing £100,000 or more
What it does
- Open architecture: collectives, equities, fixed interest, deposits, structured notes
- Up to 99 segments for phased encashment and assignment
- Discretionary fund manager appointment supported
- Gross roll-up within the fund, subject to withholding taxes on some assets
The product in full
The Premiere Account is a life assurance wrapper rather than a fund. Money paid in buys a single contract whose value is whatever the assets inside it are worth, and the asset range is open: collective funds, direct equities, fixed interest, structured notes, deposits, and where the mandate justifies it a discretionary fund manager appointed by the client’s adviser. The wrapper does not select the investments; it holds them, reports on them, and gives them a tax and succession treatment a general investment account does not have.
Segmentation is the feature that repays understanding. The bond is issued as up to 99 identical policies, so a client needing £30,000 can encash the number of segments that comes to £30,000 rather than making a partial withdrawal across the whole contract. Segments can also be assigned — to an adult child, to a trust, to a beneficiary — which moves the asset itself rather than its proceeds.
Up to ten lives assured can be named, which matters more than it sounds: the contract ends on a death only when there is nobody left on it, so a bond written on several lives can run through a generation without being forced to pay out at the wrong moment.
Literature
Product literature is issued to appointed intermediaries. Ask your underwriter, or request it through the enquiry form.
- Key features documentOn request
- Application formOn request
- Charges scheduleOn request
How it works
What happens, in order
From the first enquiry to the point the cover, the contract or the facility is in place.
The adviser sets the wrapper up
Premium, currency, lives assured, and the number of segments. Segmentation is decided at outset, and it is the one decision that is awkward to change later.
Assets are chosen and dealt inside the bond
By the adviser, or by a discretionary manager appointed to the contract. Custody, dealing and settlement sit inside the wrapper.
The fund rolls up gross of most taxes
Within the life fund, subject to withholding taxes on some assets. That is a deferral, not an exemption, and the reader’s own tax position governs the outcome.
Money comes out by segment, by withdrawal, or by assignment
Encash whole segments, take a regular withdrawal, or assign segments to another person. Which route is used has consequences, and it is an adviser’s decision, not ours.
The numbers
A worked example
Illustrative arithmetic, so the shape of the product is visible rather than described. Nothing here is a quotation or a projection.
A £250,000 bond, and taking £30,000 out of it
How segmentation changes what leaving the wrapper looks like. The arithmetic is the whole point: nothing here depends on investment return.
- Single premium
- £250,000
- Segments issuedThe maximum, which gives the smallest workable unit
- 99
- Value per segment at outset
- £2,525.25
- Client needs
- £30,000
- Segments encashed
- 12
- Proceeds releasedTwelve whole segments, rather than a partial surrender across all 99
- £30,303
- Segments remaining in force
- 87
Illustrative and at outset values. Segment values move with the assets inside the bond, so the number of segments needed to raise a given sum changes over time. Whether encashment or partial withdrawal is the better route in a particular case is advice, and it belongs with the client’s adviser.
What open architecture means in practice
An illustrative £250,000 portfolio held inside one Premiere wrapper.
Portfolio held in the bond
£250,000
- Collective funds£112,500 · 45%Onshore and offshore collectives across the adviser’s panel
- Direct equities£62,500 · 25%Held and dealt inside the wrapper
- Fixed interest£50,000 · 20%Government and corporate
- Cash deposits£25,000 · 10%Held in the contract currency
View these figures as a table
| Amount | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Collective funds — Onshore and offshore collectives across the adviser’s panel | £112,500 | 45.0% |
| Direct equities — Held and dealt inside the wrapper | £62,500 | 25.0% |
| Fixed interest — Government and corporate | £50,000 | 20.0% |
| Cash deposits — Held in the contract currency | £25,000 | 10.0% |
| Portfolio held in the bond | £250,000 | 100% |
Suitability
Where the Premiere Account fits
The cases it answers, the cases it does not, and what an underwriter needs before quoting.
It is the right answer when
- A portfolio of £100,000 or more where the adviser wants asset freedom inside one contract.
- A client who expects to take money out in stages, or to pass segments to family.
- A case where a discretionary manager will be appointed.
Look at something else when
- Smaller portfolios, where the custody and dealing costs of open architecture are not repaid — the Delta Account exists for those.
- A client who needs an EU-domiciled contract; that is the Premiere Europe Account.
- Regular monthly saving rather than a capital sum.
What we need to quote
- 1.The application, the premium and the source of funds evidence.
- 2.Lives assured, and the number of segments required.
- 3.The adviser’s charging basis, and any discretionary manager appointment.
Questions
What brokers ask us about this product
Why choose 99 segments rather than fewer?
Because segments cannot be split later. Ninety-nine gives the smallest unit and therefore the most precision when money is taken out or assigned. There is no charge for taking the maximum.
Can a discretionary manager be appointed after the bond starts?
Yes, by appointment to the contract. The manager deals inside the wrapper, and the wrapper remains the legal owner of the assets.
Does the wrapper make the investments tax free?
No. It defers, and some assets still bear withholding tax inside the fund. The client’s own residence and circumstances decide the outcome, which is why the tax treatment is a matter for their adviser.
Request information
Ask us about the Premiere Account
The form reaches an underwriter in Dublin. If you are an intermediary, say so and we will route it to the broker desk.