Clerical Medical With Profits
Clerical Medical
RWP Research Findings, Overview and Comments
In considering any company and its with-profits RYWP will look to assess a range of factors which will include: the company’s management record; its transparency of information, its financial strength; its prospects for providing future returns and the nature of its with-profits approach.
In this regard we believe that Clerical Medical is a mid-ground performer and similarly has prospects that are neither great nor terrible. They firmly sit in the middle of our league tables! Their With Profits fund is not one we can easily categorise.
The past record is very much “policy-type dependent”; this means that individual policy returns could be quite different depending on the type of policy. Clerical Medical did historically offer some valuable guarantees to policyholders and these vary from policy to policy.
In this regard generalised statements are of limited value and a policyholder should seek out an individual appraisal.
We feel we should give Clerical Medical a modest thumbs up for its with-profits. Performance and prospects vary however in the main they tend to sit somewhere in the middle of the spectrum – but as with any large population or sample, individual cases may be at the outer edges. There are examples we have seen where the performance has been satisfactory, with reasonable future prospects. But others were the performance has been poor and future prospects equally so. To determine your position nothing beats getting a detailed and individually assessed, personalised report.
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Company ownership position
Today Clerical Medical is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, sitting alongside Scottish Widows as part of the insurance arm now operating under this brand. In effect Clerical Medical no longer exists as a stand-alone brand. With Profit policies are managed under this umbrella arrangement with Lloyds Bank.
Company history
Clerical Medical’s history can be traced back to 1820. It is one of the oldest insurers in the UK, with a specific slant towards providing insurance for the medical industry. However over the years and decades they became a mainstream provider of life and pension products and were an independent company until 2009 when as part of a consolidation exercise they became a part of the Lloyds banking group.
Under this arrangement they do not offer new products or new investments, effectively they are shut for new business. The existing business book is being managed and over time this will slowly see their business shrink and disappear.
Clerical Medical With-profits funds
Clerical Medical runs one with-profits fund. However, for management purposes, they notionally sub-divide this one fund into a series of sub funds. These sub funds relate to different policy types, including UK policies covering with-profit bonds, life policies and pension policies and offshore with-profits and guaranteed products. The sub funds may differ in the assets used to manage the fund (e.g. some may have a higher percentage of the fund’s assets in shares, some less), the bonuses paid out, penalties applied and guarantees that may or may not apply.
For the latest with-profits bonus information please click here:
http://www.clericalmedical.co.uk/Business/FundsPrices/WithProfits.asp
For information on how Clerical Medical approach the management of their with-profits please click here:
http://www.clericalmedical.co.uk/Business/FundsPrices/WithProfits.asp
Please remember that any of our summary findings or conclusions are general; an appraisal of the general position for that company. There will be situations where an individual policyholder with a company that is ‘good’’ may want to look at surrendering or transferring their policy (for example to secure a guarantee or because it does not suit their risk position), likewise there will be situations where policyholders with a ‘poor’ company want to stick with what they have (for example because the penalty of exiting will be too great). Nothing can replace getting a report based on your unique circumstances; it is only this unique, personalised report which will provide the information that will instruct you on your circumstances regardless of the company and our general comments.
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Please note the information on these pages should not be used in any way or form as the basis for any decision about your with-profits investment or plan. RWP makes every attempt to ensure that all information is up to date and accurate but RWP cannot be held responsible for any of the detail provided. The information above is published to act as a broad guide to the Company’s position, history and future prospects. However any decision about your own with-profit plan should only be taken after you have sought and received qualified advice from an appropriate regulated advisory source and should be based entirely on that advice.