Archive of what's changed

We’ve reviewed the SW Life and Pension Funds listed below and decided to close them.

These Funds shouldn’t be considered for investment.

If you’re currently invested in one or more of these Funds, we’ll write to you because we need you to choose a new fund or funds. If you don’t choose a new fund or funds, we’ll move the value of your investment into another fund on your behalf, along with any ongoing contributions you make to the closing Funds.

• CM Schroder UK Smaller Companies Life Fund
• CM Schroder UK Smaller Companies Pension Fund
• SW Schroder Diversified Growth Series 1 Fund
• SW Schroder Diversified Growth Series 2 Fund
• SW Schroder Diversified Growth Series 4 Fund
• SW Schroder Diversified Growth Series CS8 Fund
• SW Aviva Investors Strategic Bond Life Fund
• SW Aviva Investors Strategic Bond Series 1 Fund
• SW Aviva Investors Strategic Bond Series 2 Fund
• SW Aviva Investors Strategic Bond Series 4 Fund
• SW Aviva Investors Strategic Bond CS8 Fund
• CM UBS Global Allocation Life Fund
• CM UBS Global Allocation Pension Fund
• SW Allianz European Equity Dividend Life Fund
• SW Allianz European Equity Dividend Series 1 Fund
• SW Allianz European Equity Dividend Series 2 Fund
• SW Allianz European Equity Dividend Series 4 Fund
• SW Allianz European Equity Dividend CS8 Fund
• CM Schroder European Alpha Life Fund
• CM Schroder European Alpha Pension Fund
• CM Schroder US Small & Mid Cap Life Fund
• CM Schroder US Small & Mid Cap Pension Fund
• CM UBS Global Growth Life Fund
• CM UBS Global Growth Pension Fund
• Halifax Independently Managed North American Fund
• Halifax Independently Managed North American Dual Fund
• Halifax Independently Managed North American Series 1 Fund
• Halifax Independently Managed North American Series 2 Fund
• CM UBS US Equity Life Fund
• CM UBS US Equity Pension Fund

The Scottish Widows Multi-Manager Diversity Fund and the Scottish Widows Multi-Manager Select Boutiques Fund will close on or around 16th June 2023.

These funds wholly invest in underlying funds managed by the fund manager, abrdn Fund Managers Limited.

Following a decision made by the fund manager to merge its underlying funds, we’ve decided to close the SW Life and Pension Funds that invest in them.

If you’re currently invested in one, or both, of these closing funds, we’ll write to you to let you know about the changes to your investment.

These SW Life and Pension Funds are no longer open for investment to new customers.

We’ve reviewed the SW Life and Pension Funds and have decided to close some of them to the products we’ve shown below. This affects customers whose plan number begins with ZU. The closing funds shouldn’t be considered for investment.

If you’re currently invested in one or more of these funds, we’ll write to you to ask you to choose a new investment option. If you don’t choose a new option, we’ll move the value of your investment in the closing funds into a replacement investment option on your behalf. We’ll also move any ongoing contributions being paid to the closing funds.
 

Scottish Widows Group Stakeholder Plan

• SW abrdn Life Emerging Markets Equity CSW 
• SW abrdn Life Global (ex UK) Equity CSW 
• SW abrdn Life UK Small Companies CSW 
• SW ASI Life Global Growth CSW 
• SW BNY Mellon Global Equity 50/50 CS1 
• SW CT Asia 1CSW 
• SW CT Asia CSW 
• SW CT European Bond CSW 
• SW CT European Smaller Companies 1CSW 
• SW Schroder European Recovery CS1 
• SW Schroder Sustainable Equity Fund CSW 
• SW ZZ Fnd Closed New Bus JPM Global Bond CSW

Scottish Widows Retirement Saver

• SW abrdn Corporate Bond CS1 
• SW abrdn Glbl Sustainable and Respons Invmt Eq CS1 
• SW abrdn Life Global (ex UK) Equity CSW 
• SW abrdn Life UK Small Companies CSW 
• SW American Select CSW 
• SW Artemis Income (Exclusions) CS1 
• SW ASI Life Global Growth CSW 
• SW Baillie Gifford Global Alpha CS1 
• SW Baillie Gifford Long Term Global Growth CS1 
• SW Baillie Gifford UK Equity Alpha CS1 
• SW BlackRock DC Diversified Growth CS1 
• SW BNY Mellon Global Equity 50/50 CS1 
• SW BNY Mellon Long Term Global Equity CS1 
• SW CT Asia 1CSW 
• SW CT Asia CS1 
• SW CT Asia CSW 
• SW CT European Bond CS1 
• SW CT European Bond CSW 
• SW CT European Smaller Companies 1CSW 
• SW CT European Smaller Companies CS1 
• SW CT European Smaller Companies CSW 
• SW CT Responsible UK Equity Growth CS1 
• SW Dimensional Emerging Markets Value CS1 
• SW Dimensional Global Small Companies CS1 
• SW European Select CSW 
• SW Fidelity Diversified Growth CS1 
• SW Fidelity UK Gilt CS1 
• SW GLG Japan CoreAlpha CS1 
• SW Goldman Sachs Global Strategic Inc Bond CS1 
• SW Horizon Multi-Asset I CS1 
• SW Horizon Multi-Asset II CS1 
• SW Horizon Multi-Asset III CS1 
• SW Horizon Multi-Asset IV CS1 
• SW Horizon Multi-Asset V CS1 
• SW Insight UK Broad Market Bond CS1 
• SW Insight UK Govt Long Maturities Bond CS1 
• SW Janus Henderson UK Smaller Companies CS1 
• SW Jupiter UK Smaller Companies CS1 
• SW Lazard Emerging Markets CS1 
• SW Lazard European Alpha CS1 
• SW M&G All Stocks Corporate Bond CS1 
• SW M&G Corporate Bond CS1 
• SW M&G Global Emerging Markets CS1 
• SW Majedie UK Equity CS1 
• SW Managed Income CSW 
• SW Ninety One Em Mkts Local Curr Debt CS1 
• SW PIMCO GIS Diversified Income CS1 
• SW R&M UK Equity Smaller Companies CS1 
• SW Royal London Sterling Credit CS1 
• SW Royal London Sterling Extra Yield Bond CS1 
• SW Russell Emerging Markets Equity CS1 
• SW Russell UK Equity CS1 
• SW Russell World Equity CS1 
• SW Schroder European Recovery CS1 
• SW Schroder Pacific CS1 
• SW Standard Life Corporate Bond CS1 
• SW Sterling Bond CSW 
• SW Stewart Investors Worldwide Sustainblty CS1 
• SW ZZ Fnd Closed New Bus JPM Global Bond CSW 
• ZZ clsd to new bus SW M&G Global Themes CS1

Scottish Widows Group Transfer Plan

• SW CT Asia CSW 
• SW CT European Smaller Companies 1CSW 
• SW Fidelity Diversified Growth CS1 
• SW Horizon Multi-Asset II CS1 
• SW Horizon Multi-Asset V CS1 
• SW M&G Corporate Bond CS1 
• SW Majedie UK Equity CS1 
• SW PIMCO GIS Diversified Income CS1 
• SW Russell Emerging Markets Equity CS1 
• SW Russell UK Equity CS1 
• SW Standard Life Corporate Bond CS1

Japan’s financial markets close on various days throughout the year to mark national holidays. In May, the holidays fall on 3 consecutive days from Wed 3rd to 5th May 2023. 

What this means for customers 

OEICS AND ISAS 

Our three Japanese OEIC funds, which invest exclusively in Japanese equities, will be unavailable for trading on these dates. These funds are: 

• Halifax Japanese Fund
• Scottish Widows Japan Growth Fund
  
• Scottish Widows Japan Equity Fund

Any investors in these OEICs, including those invested via an ISA, who want to buy or sell ahead of the market closure should submit their instructions before the following cut off points:

FUND NAME                                                                                DATE FOR CLIENT INSTRUCTION TO BE ACCEPTED

Halifax Japanese Fund                                                                11:59hrs Tuesday 2nd May 2023

Scottish Widows Japan Growth                                                 17:00hrs Friday 28th April 2023

Scottish Widows Japan Equity Fund                                         17:00hrs Friday 28th April 2023

We’ve reviewed the SW Life and Pension Funds and have decided to close some of them to the products we’ve shown below. This affects customers whose plan number begins with ZU. The closing funds shouldn’t be considered for investment.

If you’re currently invested in one or more of these funds, we’ll write to you to ask you to choose a new investment option. If you don’t choose a new option, we’ll move the value of your investment in the closing funds into a replacement investment option on your behalf. We’ll also move any ongoing contributions being paid to the closing funds.

Scottish Widows Retirement Saver

• SW Standard Life Global Abs Return Strats CS2
• SW Stewart Inv Glbl Emerging Markets Ldrs CS1
• SW Standard Life Global Abs Return Strats CS1
• SW Evelyn (formerly Tilney) Growth Portfolio CS1
• SW Evelyn (formerly Tilney) Cautious Portfolio CS1
• SW Invesco High Income CS1
• SW CT Latin America CS1
• SW CT Latin America 1CSW
• SW Fidelity Open World (formerl Fidelity Mgd) CSW
• SW CT Latin America CSW

Scottish Widows Group Stakeholder Pension Plan

• SW CT Latin America 1CSW
• SW Standard Life Global Abs Return Strats CS1
• SW CT UK CSW

Scottish Widows Group Transfer Plan

• SW Standard Life Global Abs Return Strats CS1
• SW Evelyn (formerly Tilney) Growth Portfolio CS1
• SW Evelyn (formerly Tilney) Cautious Portfolio CS1
• SW Invesco High Income CS1
• SW CT Latin America 1CSW

HSBC are merging investments in the YCGBP share class of the Islamic Global Equity Index Fund (‘the Fund’), into their Irish domiciled HSBC UCITS Common Contractual Fund (the ‘CCF Fund’) on 18th November 2022.

The CCF Fund is also an Islamic themed Global Equity fund. The merger attracts the benefit of tax transparency for the new CCF Fund.

The Scottish Widows Specialist Global Equity fund series, below, currently invest in the Fund. There will be no changes, or additional charges for customers invested in the SW pension fund series because of this merger, as the new CCF Fund has a similar aim and risk profile to the Fund.

• Scottish Widows Specialist Global Equity Pension (Series 1)
• Scottish Widows Specialist Global Equity Pension (Series 2)
• Scottish Widows Specialist Global Equity Pension (Series 4)

You can find more information on the Scottish Widows Specialist Global Equity fund in the Scottish Widows Pension Funds Investor’s Guide (PDF, 1MB), or the Scottish Widows Life Funds Investor’s Guide (PDF, 627KB). Or you can ask us for more information.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR CUSTOMERS WHOSE PLANS BEGIN WITH ZU

The funds below also currently invest in the Fund. There will be no changes, or additional charges for customers invested in those funds as a result of this merger, as the new CCF Fund has a similar aim and risk profile to the Fund.

Customers invested in the funds listed can find more fund information on their scheme info site.

Atlas Shariah Compliant Fund s1

Atlas Shariah Compliant Fund S10

Atlas Shariah Compliant Fund s2

Atlas Shariah Compliant Fund s3

Atlas Shariah Compliant Fund s4

Atlas Shariah Compliant Fund s5

Atlas Shariah Compliant Fund s6

Atlas Shariah Compliant Fund s7

Atlas Shariah Compliant Fund s8

Atlas Shariah Compliant Fund S9

EDFG (ex BEGG) Shariah

EDFG (ex EEGS) Shariah

EDFG (ex EEPS) Shariah

Endsleigh HSBC Islamic CSW

HSBC Islamic 12 SW

HSBC Islamic 16 SW

HSBC Islamic 2 SW

HSBC Islamic SW10

HSBC Islamic SW11

HSBC Islamic SW13

HSBC Islamic SW14

HSBC Islamic SW15

HSBC Islamic SW18

HSBC Islamic SW20

HSBC Islamic SW22

HSBC Islamic SW7

Mercer EY Shariah SW25

Mercer Shariah

Mercer Shariah SW16

Passive Shariah

RMPP AVC Shariah Law

RSPCA Shariah Equity

Scottish Widows Shariah CS8

Scottish Widows Shariah CS7

Shariah

Shariah 1

Shariah CSW

Shariah Fund V

Shariah law (index tracker) DC

Shariah law (index tracker)

SW HSBC Islam 29

SW HSBC Islamic CS1

SW HSBC Islamic 1

SW HSBC Islamic 5

SW HSBC Islamic M

SW HSBC Islamic N

SW Mercer EY Shariah 26

SW Mercer Shariah 27

SW Mercer Shariah CS1

SW Shariah CS1

Tarmac Shariah

Following a review of the Managed Growth Fund (MGF) 4 and Managed Growth Fund (MGF) 6 asset allocations the Investment Association mixed asset sectors aligned to both funds have now changed as follows:

MGF 4 - The fund was previously aligned to the “Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares Sector" but is now aligned to the "Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares Sector"

MGF 6 - The fund was previously aligned to the “Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares Sector”  but is now aligned to the “Flexible Investment Sector”

These changes are reflected in the published prospectus for MGF 4 & 6.

We’ve reviewed the SW Life and Pension Funds listed below and decided to close them.

These funds shouldn’t be considered for investment.

If you’re currently invested in one or more of these Funds, we’ll write to you because we need you to choose a new fund or funds. If you don’t choose a new fund or funds, we’ll move the value of your investment into another fund on your behalf, along with any ongoing contributions you make to the closing Funds.

• SW SLI Global Absolute Return Strategies (GARS) Series 1 Fund
• SW SLI Global Absolute Return Strategies (GARS) Series 2 Fund
• SW SLI Global Absolute Return Strategies (GARS) Series 4 Fund
• SW ASI Global Absolute Return Strategies CS8 Fund
• SWIS UK Equity Fund of Funds Fund
• SWIS UK Alpha Fund of Funds Fund

• Clerical Medical UK Equity Fund of Funds Fund
  
• Clerical Medical UK Alpha Fund of Funds Fund
• CM Fidelity Wealth Builder Life Fund
• CM Fidelity Wealthbuilder Fund
• CM Invesco Perpetual High Income Life Fund
• CM Invesco Perpetual High Income Fund

• SW Invesco Perpetual High Income Life Fund
• SW Invesco Perpetual High Income Series 1 Fund
• SW Invesco Perpetual High Income Series 2 Fund
• SW Invesco Perpetual High Income Series 4 Fund
• SW Invesco High Income CS8 Fund

• SW Henderson Global Equity Income Life Fund
• SW Henderson Global Equity Income Series 1 Fund
• SW Henderson Global Equity Income Series 2 Fund
• SW Henderson Global Equity Income Series 4 Fund
• SW Janus Henderson Global Equity Income CS8 Fund

• SW Investec Diversified Growth Life Fund
• SW Investec Diversified Growth Series 1 Fund
• SW Investec Diversified Growth Series 2 Fund
• SW Investec Diversified Growth Series 4 Fund
• SW Ninety One Diversified Growth CS8 Fund

• CM Schroder UK Mid 250 Life Fund
• CM Schroder UK Mid 250 Fund

• SW Schroder UK Mid 250 Life Fund
• SW Schroder UK Mid 250 Series 1 Fund
• SW Schroder UK Mid 250 Series 2 Fund
• SW Schroder UK Mid 250 Series 4 Fund
• SW Schroder UK Mid 250 CS8 Fund

• CM UBS UK Opportunities Life Fund
• CM UBS UK Opportunities Fund

• Halifax Independently Managed UK Growth Dual Fund
• Halifax Independently Managed UK Growth Series 1 Fund
• Halifax Independently Managed UK Growth Series 2 Fund
• Halifax Independently Managed UK Growth Life Fund

• SW CT Latin America CS7
• SW CT Latin America CS8

We’ve reviewed the SW Life and Pension Funds listed below and decided to close them. We’re doing this because of significant changes being made to the underlying funds that the closing Funds invest in.

• SW Fundamental Low Volatility Index Emerging Markets Equity Life Fund
• SW Fundamental Low Volatility Index Emerging Markets Equity Pension Fund
• SW Fundamental Low Volatility Index Global Equity Life Fund
• SW Fundamental Low Volatility Index Global Equity Pension Fund
• SW Fundamental Index UK Equity Life Fund
• SW Fundamental Index UK Equity Pension Fund
• SW Fundamental Low Volatility Index UK Equity Life Fund
• SW Fundamental Low Volatility Index UK Equity Pension Fund

From 1st September you’ll no longer be able to invest in these Funds.

If you’re invested in one or more of these Funds already, we’ll write to you as we need you to choose a new fund or funds by 18th November 2022 or the value of your investment in the closing fund will be moved to an alternative fund on or around 25th November 2022.

Our full range of funds are given in our Fund Guides at www.scottishwidows.co.uk/lifefundsguide and www.scottishwidows.co.uk/pensionfundsguide

Aviva Investors have informed us that they are closing the Aviva Investors High Yield Bond Fund (the ‘underlying fund’) on the 19th of July. The four SW life and pension fund series noted below currently invest in the underlying fund. We will be closing them and moving customers’ investments and ongoing contributions to the SW High Income Bond Fund on the 13th of July. This note is for the Scottish Widows SW fund series listed below:
 

• SW Aviva Investors High Yield Bond Life Fund
• SW Aviva Investors High Yield Bond Pension Fund (Series 1)
• SW Aviva Investors High Yield Bond Pension Fund (Series 2)
• SW Aviva Investors High Yield Bond Pension Fund (Series 4)
   

We will write to impacted customers. You can find more information on the Scottish Widows High Income Bond fund and our other funds in either the Scottish Widows Pension Funds Investor’s Guide (PDF, 1MB) or the Scottish Widows Life Funds Investor’s Guide (PDF, 616KB), or you can ask us for more information. Please check the fund changes webpage regularly as we’ll post any updates there.

To make it clearer how the funds are invested, we’re updating the fund aim for some of the Scottish Widows, Clerical Medical, Halifax and former Lloyds TSB Life and Pension funds.

LIFE AND PENSION FUNDS INVESTED IN OPEN ENDED INVESTMENT COMPANY (OEIC) FUNDS

The funds listed below invest directly in a Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers Limited Open Ended Investment Company (OEIC) fund or HBOS Investment Fund Managers Limited OEIC fund. The updates to the fund aims for these funds were published in the funds’ factsheets for the end of May 2022 at www.scottishwidows.co.uk/fundfactsheets

An OEIC is a type of collective investment vehicle created to hold and manage assets on behalf of a number of investors. This detail is included in the funds’ aims.

For the Life and Pension Tracker Funds listed below, the updates to the aims were published in the funds’ factsheets for the end of May 2022.
 

LIFE AND PENSION FUNDS INVESTED IN OUR AUTHORISED CONTRACTUAL SCHEME (ACS) FUND

For the Life and Pension Funds invested in Scottish Widows Pooled Property ACS Fund 1, the updates to the fund aims have also been published in the funds’ factsheets

Clerical Medical UK Property Life Fund
Clerical Medical UK Property Pension Fund
Formerly Lloyds TSB Property Life Fund
Formerly Lloyds TSB Property Pension Fund
Halifax Property Life Fund
Halifax Property Pension Fund
Scottish Widows Property Life Fund
Scottish Widows Property Pension Fund 

An Authorised Contractual Scheme (ACS) is a type of collective investment vehicle created to hold and managed assets on behalf of a number of investors.

The change to the aim won’t affect the funds’ risk profile and there won’t be a change to the annual management charge of these funds.

The SW Henderson UK Property funds shown in the table below (‘the SW funds’) were set up to invest in the Janus Henderson UK Property PAIF fund, which we sometimes refer to as the ‘underlying fund’. Following Janus Henderson’s decision to close the underlying fund, from 20th June, the SW Henderson UK Property funds will invest in the SWUTM Scottish Widows Pooled Property ACS Fund 1. Find out more about this fund.

Learn more about the closure of the Janus Henderson UK Property PAIF fund.

MAKING WITHDRAWALS FROM THE SW HENDERSON UK PROPERTY FUNDS

From 25th March we restricted certain sell transactions from the SW Henderson UK Property funds with some exceptions.

We’re lifting these restrictions from 20th June so customers invested in one or more of the SW funds can switch their investment in these funds to another fund or funds available to their product.

We plan to switch customers out of the SW Henderson UK Property funds to an alternative fund at a later date. If you’re invested in the SW funds at that time, we’ll write to let you know before we do this.

PAYING INTO THE SW HENDERSON UK PROPERTY FUNDS

The restrictions brought in from the 25th March will remain in place.

THE SW HENDERSON UK PROPERTY LIFE AND PENSION FUNDS ('THE SW FUNDS') ARE:

We had intended to move the investment management of the following Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers OEIC Funds from Aberdeen Asset Investments Limited to BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited in March 2022:

• International Equity Tracker Fund
• Fundamental Index Emerging Markets Equity Fund
• Fundamental Low Volatility Index Emerging Markets Equity Fund

However, this change in investment management won’t now happen until a later date.

On 3rd May the benchmarks tracked by the funds moved to new screened benchmarks which align with our exclusions policy (PDF, 715KB).

Our Life and Pension Funds which invest in the above three OEIC funds will also change aim and benchmark to align them with the OEIC fund they invests in. These are:

• SW International Equity Tracker Pension Fund
• SW International Equity Tracker Life Fund
• SW Fundamental Index Emerging Market Equity Life Fund
• SW Fundamental Index Emerging Market Equity Pension Fund
• SW Fundamental Low Volatility Index Emerging Markets Equity Life Fund
• SW Fundamental Low Volatility Index Emerging Markets Equity Pension Fund

You can learn more about these changes.

The SW Janus Henderson UK Property CS1 Fund (“the SW Fund”) invests in the Janus Henderson UK Property PAIF Fund (“the underlying fund”).

The fund manager, Henderson Investment Funds, has decided to close the underlying fund due to concerns that continued withdrawals could shrink it to a size where it’s no longer viable. Before closing the underlying fund and returning assets to investors, the fund manager decided it was in the interests of investors to suspend the underlying fund on 3rd March 2022 to safeguard the property portfolio for sale. We expect the underlying fund to close in the next month.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR CUSTOMERS WHOSE PLANS BEGIN WITH ZU

We have written to customers whose plan number begins with ZU and who are invested in the SW Fund to explain that, to help protect their interests, we’ve applied restrictions to the SW Fund. Customers can’t currently buy, sell or switch units in the SW Fund.

The main exceptions to these restrictions are:

• Death claims
• Retirement claims
• Income withdrawals from ‘drawdown’ plans.

We encourage any customer with an immediate need to withdraw part or all of their investment to speak to us to understand what options are available at this time.

From 16th March 2022, any regular payments that would have been invested into the SW Fund have been redirected to the customer’s scheme’s default lifestyle strategy, and unless we receive an instruction before 3rd May 2022, we’ll move the value of their investment in the SW Fund to their scheme’s default lifestyle strategy after the underlying fund has closed.

Customers can ask to switch the value of their investment in the SW Fund into another fund or funds available to their plan. We’ll process instruction(s) after the underlying fund has closed. Details of the customer’s scheme’s default lifestyle strategy and the other investment options available are on their scheme info site. Here the customer can access Money4Life to redirect future payments to another fund or funds other than their scheme’s default option.

Customers should carefully consider the aims, risks and charges of funds before making any investment decisions.

On 29th April 2022 the appointed investment manager of the SW Mixed Investment and SW Flexible Retirement funds will change to Schroders from Ninety-One (previously known as Investec).

This strengthens our existing relationship with Schroders, with further operational benefits through integration, and allows us to better monitor day-to-day activities.

On receipt of the mandate, Schroders will make a small number of portfolio changes including:

• the application of our Responsible Investment Exclusions Policy on direct investments and
• additional investment in sustainable investments.

The change will also allow us to begin a series of incremental improvements to the management and oversight of the funds over time.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR INVESTORS

If you’re invested in any of the following funds, there will be a 0.06% reduction in the Annual Management Charge from 29th April 2022.

THE FUNDS AFFECTED BY THE CHANGE ARE:

There are no changes to the:

• objectives of the funds
• risk profile of the funds
• funds’ benchmarks
• permitted investment universe for the funds.

Japan’s financial markets close on various days throughout the year to mark national holidays. In May, the holidays fall on 3 consecutive days from 3rd to 5th May 2022.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR CUSTOMERS

OEICS AND ISAS

Our three Japanese OEIC funds, which invest exclusively in Japanese equities, will be unavailable for trading on these dates. These funds are:

• Halifax Japanese Fund
• Scottish Widows Japan Growth Fund
• Scottish Widows Japan Equity Fund

Any investors in these OEICs, including those invested via an ISA, who want to buy or sell ahead of the market closure should submit their instructions before the following cut off points:

Henderson Investment Funds has decided to close the Janus Henderson UK Property PAIF Fund (‘the Fund’) due to concerns that continued withdrawals could shrink the Fund to a size where it’s no longer viable. Prior to closing the Fund and returning assets to investors, it has decided it’s in the interests of investors to suspend the Fund now to safeguard the property portfolio for sale.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR CUSTOMERS WHOSE PLANS BEGIN WITH ZU

If your plan number begins with ZU and you're invested in the Fund through the SW Janus Henderson UK Property CS1 fund you can learn more about how this affects your investment on the fund changes page. Please check this regularly as we’ll post any updates there.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR RETIREMENT ACCOUNT FUND SUPERMARKET CUSTOMERS

If you're invested directly in the Janus Henderson UK Property PAIF Feeder I Acc Fund or Janus Henderson PAIF Feeder I Inc Fund through the Retirement Account Fund Supermarket, you can learn how this affects your investment at March: Funds suspended. Please check that page regularly as we’ll post any updates there.

What this means for other customers invested in our SW Henderson UK Property Life and Pensions Funds

The affected SW Henderson UK Property Life and Pension Funds (‘the SW funds’) are:

Our SW Henderson UK Property life and pension funds invest in the Fund – we sometimes refer to the Fund as the ‘underlying fund’. Henderson’s decision to suspend and close the Fund means we need to take action on the SW funds to help protect our customers’ interests. We will write to all affected customers to explain the actions we’ve taken.

For as long as prices are published for the underlying Fund, we will continue to use those prices to value and price the SW funds. If prices stop being published for the Fund prior to its closure, we expect to use the last available published price for the Fund to value and price the SW funds.

We’ve imposed some restrictions on transactions into or out of the SW funds for all our customers and these are outlined below. At all times these restrictions will be in line with customers’ policy provisions and with their best interests in mind.

We expect to remove the restrictions on the SW funds once the underlying Fund is closed.

Despite Henderson’s decision to close the Fund, we may decide to keep our life and pension funds open by moving to invest in an alternative underlying fund or funds. If we do, we’ll confirm what that means for the funds and your investment in the funds.

MAKING WITHDRAWALS FROM THE SW HENDERSON UK PROPERTY FUNDS

From 25th March we’ve restricted certain sell transactions from the SW funds.

The main exceptions to these restrictions are:

• Critical illness claims
• Maturities
• Death claims
• Retirement claims
• Income withdrawals from ‘drawdown’ plans.

We encourage any customer with an immediate need to withdraw part or all of their investment to speak to us to understand what options are available at this time.

PAYING INTO THE SW HENDERSON UK PROPERTY FUNDS

Any regular payments which are currently invested in the SW funds will continue to be invested in those funds.

From 30th March there are restrictions on other requests to invest payments in the SW Henderson Property life and pension funds. Specifically, we’re not accepting instructions to:

• set up or increase regular payments;
• add single payments; or
• make transfer payments.

into the SW Henderson UK Property life and pension funds. If we receive any such requests, we’ll ask customers for an alternative investment instruction. If no alternative instruction is provided, we’ll refund or return the payment(s) as appropriate.

SWITCHES AND REDIRECTIONS INTO AND OUT OF THE SW HENDERSON UK PROPERTY FUNDS

We’re not accepting new instructions to switch into or out of the SW funds. Similarly, we’re not accepting new instructions to redirect payments into these funds.

The exception is our lifestyle strategies where investments will continue to be automatically switched into and out of the funds where applicable.

HOW LONG WILL THE SW HENDERSON UK PROPERTY FUNDS RESTRICTIONS LAST?

Henderson has suggested it intends on closing the Fund in around six weeks. This is an indicative timeline only.

We had intended to move the investment management of the following Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers OEIC Funds from Aberdeen Asset Investments Limited to BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited in March 2022:

• International Equity Tracker Fund
• Fundamental Index Emerging Markets Equity Fund
• Fundamental Low Volatility Index Emerging Markets Equity Fund.

However, this change in investment management did not happen.

We are therefore delaying the planned changes to the benchmarks tracked by the funds whereby the funds were to move to new screened benchmarks which align with our exclusions policy.

We still plan to move the funds to new screened benchmarks and will provide updates on when this will happen.

Fund managers have suspended dealing in some funds, so we’ve had to restrict payments into and out of these funds. The suspended funds are listed below. We’re writing to all affected customers.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR CUSTOMERS

If you’re invested in a suspended fund then you can’t currently buy, sell or switch units in the fund until the suspension is lifted. The trading restrictions were applied from the dates shown in the tables below.

If you gave us an instruction to buy, sell or switch units in a fund on or after the date it was suspended, it will not have been processed.

Payments in

RETIREMENT ACCOUNT

Regular, single and transfer payments into a suspended fund will remain in the Control Account until we’re instructed otherwise by the customer or their adviser.

POLICIES BEGINNING WITH ‘ZU’

Regular, single and transfer payments into a suspended fund will be redirected to the cash account until we’re instructed otherwise by the customer or their adviser.

CONTROL ACCOUNT AND CASH ACCOUNTS

These options are not designed to be used as long-term investments. It’s important for customers to consider reinvesting payments redirected to these investment options in another investment fund or funds.

HOW LONG WILL THE TRADING RESTRICTIONS LAST?

The managers of the suspended funds aim to lift the suspensions when normal market conditions return. Once this happens, we’ll remove our restrictions and reinstate normal trading.

We’re unsure how long the suspensions will last. When they’re lifted, we’ll update this page to let you know.

You may want to watch our videos which cover stock market volatility.

FUND SUPERMARKET FUNDS SUSPENDED:

** The fund manager has confirmed the Janus Henderson UK Property fund will close in the next few weeks due to concerns that continued withdrawals could shrink the fund to a size where it would no longer be viable. To safeguard the fund’s property portfolio for sale, the fund manager has decided to suspend the fund. We’ll write to you if you’re invested in the fund when it’s closed, and we know how the proceeds will be paid out.

OTHER SUSPENDED FUNDS:

Henderson Investment Funds has decided to close the Janus Henderson UK Property PAIF Fund (the Fund) due to concerns that continued redemptions could shrink the Fund to a size where it is no longer viable. Prior to closing the Fund and returning assets to investors, it has decided it is in the interests of investors to suspend the Fund now to safeguard the property portfolio for sale.

As a result, we’re unable to buy and sell shares in the Fund at this time.

SW HENDERSON UK PROPERTY FUNDS

The SW Henderson UK Property Life and SW Henderson UK Property Pension funds are invested in the Fund. We’re considering what action to take on these funds, and will provide an update here as soon as we can.

RETIREMENT ACCOUNT

If you are invested in the Fund through the Retirement Account Fund Supermarket, you won’t be able to buy or sell shares in the Fund, including switches between funds, during the suspension period. Any regular investments you’ve asked us to make in the Fund will be redirected to your Control Account. You should consider how these amounts should be invested, and may want to take financial advice. Advisers normally charge for any advice given.

We’re reviewing our range of index tracking, (also referred to as passive), funds and making changes.

The changes are summarised here.

We’re aiming to make these changes on the dates we’ve given, but some of these changes may happen later. As we make the changes we’ll confirm the dates here. You can also call us for an update.

Changes to some of our index tracking life and pension funds

CHANGE OF INVESTMENT ADVISER

We’re changing the Investment Adviser (also referred to as the Fund Manager) for most of our index tracking/passive funds.

On 7th March 2022 BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited (BlackRock) will replace Aberdeen Asset Investments Limited. You can learn more about BlackRock at www.blackrock.com/uk

CHANGE OF THE FUNDS’ AIMS

The aims of some of our Life and Pensions (L&P) Funds are changing to align the wording with the Open Ended Investment Company (OEIC) fund they invest in – see section below on our index tracking OEIC funds for more detail. We sometimes refer to the OEIC fund as your L&P Fund’s underlying investment or fund. An OEIC is a type of collective investment vehicle created to hold and manage assets on behalf of a number of investors.

From 28th March 2022 we’re making changes to theour index tracking OEIC funds, listed further down, which some of our L&P funds invest in, so that they invest more responsibly and do not invest in companies which are involved in industries such as Controversial Weapons, Thermal Coal, Tar Sands and Tobacco. You can find out more at www.scottishwidows.co.uk/responsibleinvestment and in the section below on our index tracking OEIC funds.

THE LIFE AND PENSION FUNDS AFFECTED

* At least 60% of the Fund is invested in actively managed fixed interest securities and a maximum of 40% is in shares (also known as equities) which are passively managed. The change of investment adviser only relates to the portion of the fund invested in shares.

Changes to some of our index tracking oeic funds

The investment objectives and policies of some of our Open Ended Investment Company (OEIC) funds are changing. (An OEIC is a type of collective investment vehicle created to hold and manage assets on behalf of a number of investors.)

We’re changing the Investment Adviser (also referred to as the Fund Manager) for most of our index tracking, (also referred to as passive), funds.

The changes won’t affect the funds’ risks and there won’t be a change to the annual management charge as a result of this change.

CHANGE OF INVESTMENT ADVISER

On 7th March 2022, BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited (BlackRock) will replace Aberdeen Asset Investments Limited. You can learn more about BlackRock at www.blackrock.com/uk

We will retain ownership of the funds and will remain responsible for defining the funds’ investment objectives and policies, and the strict parameters on how the funds should be run. BlackRock’s performance will be regularly monitored. 

CHANGES TO HOW THE FUNDS WILL INVEST

From 28th March 2022, once the appointment of the new Investment Adviser has been completed, some of the funds’ investments will change as we exclude companies involved in industries such as Controversial Weapons, Thermal Coal, Tar Sands and Tobacco. We will change the benchmark index of those funds and align the funds to their new benchmark index. These changes will be made by amendments to the investment objectives and policies of our impacted OEIC funds. You can find out more about how we are investing more responsibly at www.scottishwidows.co.uk/about_us/responsibleinvestment.

To invest the funds more responsibly they won’t invest in companies:

• where 5% or more of their revenue is obtained from thermal coal extraction and/or tar sands operations
• where 10% or more of their revenue is obtained from tobacco production, sales or related services
• which manufacture controversial weapons prohibited by international conventions such as anti-personnel landmines, cluster munitions, chemical and biological weapons
• which don’t meet one or more of the ten United Nations Global Compact principles. Those cover, but are not limited to, human rights, anti-corruption and the environment. You can find out more at www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/mission/principles

CHANGE OF BENCHMARK INDEX

Some of our funds will track a different benchmark index which excludes companies which are involved in industries such as, Controversial Weapons, Thermal Coal, Tar Sands and Tobacco.

A fund’s benchmark is an index, rate or equivalent measure used to assess the performance of the fund. Usually a market index or the average performance of similar investments, or a bank index rate are used as benchmarks.

THE FUND’S NAME

We’re changing the fund name for some of our funds to align them with the change of benchmark.

If you’re invested in one or more of these funds through an ISA Investor from HBOS Investment Fund Managers Limited then we’ve sent you updated ISA Terms & Conditions (T&Cs) which contain the changes made for any new fund names and benchmark index amendments. These T&Cs will apply once the changes have been made. Please keep them for your records as they will replace your existing T&Cs.

BUYING AND SELLING ASSETS AS A RESULT OF THE FUND CHANGES

The removal of investment in shares of companies in which we no longer wish to invest will result in a short-term increase in transaction costs. These will be borne by the fund itself. All other costs associated with this change will be paid for by us.

Transaction costs are incurred by our funds when investments are bought and sold. These can include broker fees and commissions charged for carrying out the trade, taxes incurred when buying and selling different types of investments. They are paid from the value of the fund and this is a normal part of the ongoing management for funds. These transaction costs are not included in the ongoing charge that appears on the Key Investor Information Document (KIID) for the fund.

We’re updating the investment objective and policy for these funds to reflect the changes. You can see these at www.scottishwidows.co.uk/funds

We’ve given below all our OEIC funds with a change of Investment Adviser along with any other changes we’re making:

CHANGES TO SCOTTISH WIDOWS UNIT TRUST MANAGERS LIMITED OEIC FUNDS

CHANGES TO HBOS INVESTMENT FUND MANAGERS LIMITED OEIC FUNDS

* At least 60% of the Fund is invested in actively managed fixed interest securities and a maximum of 40% is in shares (also known as equities) which are passively managed. The change of investment adviser only relates to the portion of the fund invested in shares.

We’re making changes to the management of our property funds. The changes are summarised here.

We’re aiming to make these changes on the date we’ve given, but some of these changes may happen later. As we make the changes we’ll confirm the dates here. You can also call us for an update.

On 29th April 2022, Schroders Investment Management Limited (Schroders) will replace Aberdeen Standard Investments as the Investment Adviser for our property funds. This includes our life and pension property funds which invest via the Scottish Widows Pooled Property ACS Fund 1 – see below. You can learn more about Schroders at www.schroders.com/uk

L&P FUNDS INVESTED IN SCOTTISH WIDOWS POOLED PROPERTY ACS FUND 1

• Clerical Medical UK Property Life
• Clerical Medical UK Property Pension
• Halifax Property Life
• Halifax Property Pension
• Formerly Lloyds TSB Property Pension
• Scottish Widows Property Pension
• Scottish Widows Property Life

An Authorised Contractual Scheme (ACS) is a type of collective investment vehicle created to hold and manage assets on behalf of a number of investors.

The change won’t affect the funds’ risk profile and there won’t be a change to the annual management charge as a result of this change.

Scottish Widows will retain ownership of the funds and will remain responsible for defining the funds’ aims, and the strict parameters on how the funds should be run. Schroders’ performance will be regularly monitored.

LIBOR (the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate) was phased out at the end of 2021. It was used to help determine interest rates on consumer and banking products – and was often used as a way to measure performance - called a benchmark - for certain types of investments.

Over the years, a number of problems with LIBOR came to light because of how it was determined. LIBOR was an estimated rate and not based on actual transactions – that is, a small group of banks estimated what they’d charge other banks to borrow money overnight. Because of how it was set, the LIBOR rate was vulnerable to technological, regulatory, and ethical failings that could lead to an unfair rate. That’s why the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK financial regulator, announced that LIBOR would be phased out.

HOW WILL THESE CHANGES IMPACT MY INVESTMENTS?

Scottish Widows and our appointed investment managers used LIBOR as a benchmark on a number of funds, often for absolute return and liquidity funds. Throughout 2021, we reviewed where LIBOR was used and arranged to use different benchmarks going forward. In some cases, this meant a change to the fund objectives.

The changes were seamless and don’t impact the value of investments or the way our funds are run.

Any changes which we have made will be stated on the relevant fund factsheets.
 

DO I NEED TO DO ANYTHING?

No. If you’re invested in funds impacted by these changes you don’t need to take any action. All of the necessary changes have been made by our appointed investment managers, and our investment team will be monitoring the transitions to the new benchmarks.

As part of the regulatory move away from LIBOR benchmarks, we’ve modified the fund objectives of some Scottish Widows funds which invest directly in the BlackRock ICS Sterling Liquidity Fund to more closely align with the objective of the underlying BlackRock fund. Specifically, the reference to outperformance relative to the benchmark has been removed.

A number of Scottish Widows pension funds invest in BlackRock funds via BlackRock-run Aquila Connect pension funds. From the end of November 2021, some of these Scottish Widows pension funds will invest directly in the underlying BlackRock funds and will see a name change to reflect this (see table below). We’re essentially removing the Aquila Connect pension funds layer from the fund structure.

MINIMAL IMPACT

• No significant changes to investments.
• Charges remain the same and any costs incurred to make the changes will be covered by Scottish Widows.
• Customers can continue to manage their pension plans uninterrupted while the changes are implemented.

Fund factsheets and other literature will be amended in due course.
 

WHY WE’RE MAKING THE CHANGES

The money that will be invested in the underlying Blackrock funds is held independently by a custodian which reduces risk for customers and Scottish Widows compared to holding via the Aquila Connect pension funds, where the assets are legally owned by the pension company which runs those funds, BlackRock Life.
 

IMPACTED SCOTTISH WIDOWS FUNDS

Customers may be invested directly into these funds, or indirectly if they form a component of another Scottish Widows fund. A company pension scheme may also use these funds under a different name.

We made changes to the fund aim of our Scottish Widows Environmental Fund, which took effect from 27th September 2021.

WHY HAVE WE MADE CHANGES?

We’re making the changes to better meet environmentally and ethically conscious investment needs whilst aiming to deliver positive investment outcomes. We’re increasing Environmental Fund investment in companies which are working towards or supporting a sustainable economy and investing a larger proportion into small to medium sized companies. We’re also clarifying how the funds are run and updating the environmental and ethical exclusions screening (companies are excluded if they’re involved in activities based on certain criteria, further details are provided below).

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?

The changes don’t alter your annuity income, or any other aspects of your investments with us. You don’t need to take any action, but you should review whether your investment in the fund continues to meet your investment needs. If you’d like to switch funds you can do this free of switching charges.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

You can read more about all the changes in the new fund aim below.

Scottish Widows Environmental Fund

NEW FUND AIM – FROM 27TH SEPTEMBER 2021

The fund invests via the Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers (SWUTM) Environmental Investor OEIC Fund. The Environmental Investor OEIC Fund aim is:

To provide capital growth by investing in companies showing a commitment to the protection and preservation of the natural environment. The Fund is actively managed by the Fund Manager who chooses investments with the aim of outperforming the FTSE All-Share Index by 3% per annum on a rolling 3 year basis before deduction of fees.

At least 80% will be invested in shares of UK companies, with up to 20% in international companies.

SWUTM defines screens for UK and International equity markets to prevent investment in specific companies or industry sectors* that are harmful to the environment. The Fund Manager, in selecting investments it believes provide attractive capital growth, will seek a mix of investment in companies whose specific products and services directly support or provide positive environmental outcomes or benefits together with companies from any industry sector which, in the Fund Manager’s opinion, demonstrate high standards regarding sustainable environmental practice.

In seeking companies whose products and services support positive environmental outcomes the Fund Manager will look to invest in:

• Energy Transition: Companies whose technologies contribute to or assist the transition to Low Carbon energy;
• Environmental Infrastructure: Companies that finance, build or operate energy infrastructure such as wind or solar farms;
• Environmental Industry: Companies whose products or services reduce the environmental impact of industrial activity;
• Low Carbon Consumer: Companies that enable consumers to live more sustainably; and
• Circular Economy: Companies involved in the use of, or investment in, recycling technologies and waste management.

Companies which demonstrate high standards regarding sustainable environmental practice may include those which:

• Have responsible sourcing of sustainable resources;
• Promote environmentally responsible behaviour such as recycling;
• Have net zero carbon commitments.
   

ENVIRONMENTAL SCREEN

The Fund will not invest in companies which: own reserves in; extract; produce; supply; generate; or receive revenue from fossil fuels. This includes thermal coal, gas, oil and tar-sands. It will also not invest in companies which receive revenue from nuclear energy including nuclear uranium mining, and the production and use of controversial weapons.

The Fund retains a level of portfolio diversification and risk management by investing typically in 30 to 60 holdings across different sectors* of the Index and in different market sizes. As a result the Fund’s performance may differ substantially from the Index.

*A sector is a business area, industry or economy which shares the same characteristics. Company shares are typically grouped into different sectors depending on the company’s business.

FUND AIM – PRIOR TO 27TH SEPTEMBER 2021

To give long-term capital growth by investing in primarily UK companies which show a commitment to the protection and preservation of the natural environment. The fund may also invest in international companies applying environmental commitment. The companies are selected according to a range of negative environmental screening criteria. ‘Negative screening’ means using a fund’s agreed screening criteria to exclude undesirable investments, such as shares in companies whose practices may be harmful to the environment.

We made changes to the fund aim of our Scottish Widows Ethical Fund, which took effect from 27th September 2021.

Why have we made the changes?

We’re making the changes to better meet ethical investment needs whilst aiming to deliver positive investment outcomes. We’re clarifying how the Fund is run and extending and updating the ethical exclusions screening (companies are excluded if they’re involved in activities based on certain criteria, further details are provided below).

We anticipate that approximately 10%-15% of the current holdings within the Fund will be substituted with alternative assets to align the Fund to the new investment policy. The transaction costs for this activity will be borne by the Fund itself and these are currently estimated to be approximately 0.05%-0.1% of the overall value of the Fund.

What does this mean for you?

The changes don’t alter any other aspects of your investments with us. You don’t need to take any action, but you should review whether your investment in the fund continues to meet your investment needs. If you’d like to switch funds you can do this free of switching charges.

For more information

You can read more about all the changes in the new fund aim below.
 

Scottish Widows Ethical Fund

NEW Fund Aim – from 27th September 2021

The fund invests via the Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers (SWUTM) Ethical OEIC Fund. The Ethical OEIC Fund aim is:

To provide capital growth by investing in shares of UK companies that demonstrate ethical attributes and practices.

The Fund is actively managed by the Fund Manager who chooses investments with the aim of outperforming the FTSE All-Share Index (the “Index”) by 3% per annum on a rolling 3 year basis, before deduction of fees.

At least 90% of the Fund will invest in shares of UK companies, it may also include some international companies.

SWUTM defines an ethical screen which means that the Fund will not invest, or investment is limited, in certain industries or companies. This approach is taken with companies whose products or services contribute to: social problems; destruction of human life; human rights or labour abuses; environmental damage; animal testing for cosmetic purposes and irresponsible corporate practice.

After screening for ethical criteria the Fund Manager selects investments based on a company’s growth prospects, market valuation and business risks.

In addition the Fund Manager engages with investee companies to monitor their compliance with international standards and promote ethical practices. The Fund will also take into account companies that demonstrate their involvement in the community and that have transparent and accountable corporate policies.

The Fund retains a level of portfolio diversification and risk management by investing typically in 30 to 60 holdings across different sectors* of the Index and in different market sizes. As a result the Fund’s performance may differ substantially from the Index.

Ethical Screen

The Fund will not invest in companies involved in:

• Alcohol – where the annual revenue from production is greater than 1%; where the annual revenue from supply, distribution and retail companies is greater than 10%;
• Animal testing within the Household and Personal products sectors - unless committed to the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing or equivalent;
• Fossil Fuels – all thermal coal and tar sands extraction and production; oil and gas extraction, production and refining;
• Gambling and pornography - where annual revenue is greater than 5%;
• Military involvement and weapons – all controversial weapons; production of critical weapons’ components, manufacture or sale of firearms where the annual revenue is greater than 5%
• UN Global Compact Violators - Companies in violation of UN Global Compact Human Rights or Workplace/Labour standards;
• Nuclear Energy – production or supply where the annual revenue is greater than 5%;
• Tobacco – where the annual revenue from production is greater than 1%; where the annual revenue from supply, distribution and retail companies is greater than 5%.

*A sector is a business area, industry or economy which shares the same characteristics. Company shares are typically grouped into different sectors depending on the company’s business.

Fund Aim – prior to 27th September 2021

To give long-term capital growth by investing in primarily UK companies that demonstrate ethical attributes and practices. The fund may also invest in international companies demonstrating ethical practices. The companies are selected according to a broad range of negative ethical screening criteria. ‘Negative screening’ means using a fund’s agreed screening criteria to exclude undesirable investments, such as shares in companies which sell weapons or tobacco.

We made changes to the fund aim of our Scottish Widows Multi-Manager UK Equity Focus Fund on 4th August 2021.

Why have we made the changes?

This fund itself invests through an OEIC fund. We’ve expanded the fund aim description to clarify how the fund is invested and managed. Scottish Widows determine how the fund is managed, in place of Aberdeen Standard Investments.

What does this mean for you?

The changes don’t alter any other aspects of your investments with us. You don’t need to take any action, but you should review whether your investment in the fund continues to meet your investment needs. If you’d like to switch funds you can do this free of switching charges.

For more information

You can read more about all the changes in the new fund aim below.
 

Scottish Widows Multi-Manager UK Equity Focus Fund

NEW Fund Aim – from 4th August 2021

The Fund aims to achieve long-term growth by investing in a select portfolio of mainly UK equities. The portfolio’s investments will be actively managed by a number of fund managers.

At least 80% of the Fund will invest in UK equities. The majority of these companies are those which are incorporated, or domiciled, or have a significant part of their business in the UK.

A portion of the Fund may be invested in overseas equities, cash, cash-like investments. The Fund will invest in equities through other funds known as collective investment schemes. These collective investment schemes may employ techniques such as the use of derivatives for investment purposes and efficient portfolio management, and stock lending.

Fund Aim – prior to 4th August 2021

Aberdeen Standard Investments defines this fund’s objective and determines how this fund is run.

The fund aims to achieve long-term growth by investing in a select portfolio of mainly UK equities. The fund will normally hold fewer stocks than our other Multi-Manager UK equity funds. The portfolio’s investments will be managed by a number of fund managers.

We made changes to the fund aim of our Scottish Widows Multi-Manager UK Equity Growth Fund on 4th August 2021.

Why have we made the changes?

This fund was invested through an OEIC, the SPW Multi-Manager UK Equity Growth Fund, which has closed. We’ve changed the fund to invest into another OEIC, the SPW Multi-Manager UK Equity Fund, and moved the investments from the closed OEIC into the SPW Multi-Manager UK Equity Fund.

Scottish Widows determine how the fund is managed in place of Aberdeen Standard Investments. We’ve updated the fund aim wording to clarify how it’s invested and managed. The changes don’t alter any other aspects of your investment with us.

For Life policies the charging structure of the previous OEIC fund resulted in an additional level of charges for investors. The change to where the fund is invested will lower the total annual fund charges by at least 0.10%. You can find out more at www.scottishwidows.co.uk/funds/fund-charges

What does this mean for you?

The changes don’t alter any other aspects of your investments with us. You don’t need to take any action, but you should review whether your investment in the fund continues to meet your investment needs. If you’d like to switch funds you can do this free of switching charges.

For more information

You can read more about all the changes in the new fund aim below.
 

Scottish Widows Multi-Manager UK Equity Growth Fund

NEW Fund Aim – from 4th August 2021

The fund aims to achieve long-term growth by investing in a select portfolio of mainly UK equities. The portfolio’s investments will be actively managed by a number of fund managers.

At least 80% of the Fund will invest in UK equities. The majority of these companies are those which are incorporated, or domiciled, or have a significant part of their business in the UK.

A portion of the Fund may be invested in overseas equities, cash, cash-like investments.

The Fund will invest in equities through other funds known as collective investment schemes. These collective investment schemes may employ techniques such as the use of derivatives for investment purposes and efficient portfolio management, and stock lending.

Fund Aim – prior to 4th August 2021

Aberdeen Standard Investments defines this fund’s objective and determines how this fund is run.

The fund aims to achieve long-term growth by investing in a diversified portfolio of mainly UK equities. The portfolio’s investments will be managed by a number of fund managers. Fund managers are selected and assets are allocated in conjunction with Russell Investment Group.

We’re introducing a new way to assess how the Scottish Widows Pension Portfolio Funds are performing over time.

Many customers are saving into our Pension Portfolio Funds in their workplace pension. The funds act as the building blocks of our Pension Investment Approaches (PIA), commonly known as ‘glidepaths’, which gradually move money into lower risk funds from 15 years before retirement.

The Pension Portfolio Funds are also available in our personal pension, Scottish Widows Retirement Account, and its glidepaths called Governed Investment Strategies (GIS).

To help customers more easily understand how the individual Pension Portfolio Funds are performing, we’re introducing measures against which their relative performance can be compared. These measures are known as ‘benchmarks’. The benchmarks apply to the individual funds. This means they will change along the glidepaths.

The benchmarks are shown as a return of more than inflation. The amount above inflation depends on the fund. Performance of our funds against these benchmarks should be considered over longer-term time periods as there’s likely to be short-term variance.

Price inflation is the rate at which the cost of goods and services increase over time. It's normally expressed as a percentage increase or decrease in prices over a set period of time. For example, if the cost of a litre of petrol was £1 a year ago, and the inflation rate since then has been 2% a year, motorists would now need to spend a further 2 pence (2% more) per litre of petrol at the pump compared to 12 months earlier. It might not sound much, but it can soon add up.

Price inflation is a key consideration of financial well-being because it affects what you will be able to buy for your money in future. If your pension pot doesn’t keep up with inflation, your purchasing power and standard of living in retirement will likely fall.

So, we’re using the UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI), a standard measure of price inflation in the UK, as the basis of our benchmarks. To understand CPI, think of a very large shopping basket containing all the goods and services bought by households. The UK CPI measures changes to the total cost of this basket over time. By using this as the basis of our benchmarks, you’ll be better able to see how your pension pot is performing compared to changes in the cost of living.

What are the new benchmarks?

Our Pension Portfolio Funds are made up of a mix of different types of investments, from lower-risk bonds to higher-risk company shares, or equities, in different proportions. Funds with more invested in bonds, for example, will be lower risk but have less potential for growth than those with more invested in equities. Over time, equities are likely to offer greater potential for higher returns, but with it greater changes in value. This is because they are more volatile - their value can rise and fall more quickly, more often.

Our new benchmarks have been chosen to reflect the associated growth potential and risk levels of each fund. Funds with higher CPI+ benchmarks have a higher proportion invested in equities and, as such, carry the greatest risk while providing the potential for the greatest return over the long term.

The benchmarks are only provided for comparison purposes. They’re not targets, and there are no guarantees we’ll achieve or beat them, or that we’ll generate positive returns over any given period. Over the shorter-term, there’s also likely to be more variance.

We’re making changes to the investment policies of our Halifax Ethical Fund, Scottish Widows Ethical Fund and Scottish Widows Environmental Investor Fund, which will take effect from 27th September 2021.

Why are we making the changes?

We’re making the changes to better meet environmentally and ethically conscious investment needs whilst aiming to deliver positive investment outcomes. We’re increasing Environmental Investor Fund investment in companies which are working towards or supporting a sustainable economy and investing a larger proportion into small to medium sized companies. We’re also clarifying how the funds are run and updating the environmental and ethical exclusions screening (companies are excluded if they’re involved in activities based on certain criteria, further details provided below).

What does this mean for you?

The changes don’t alter any other aspects of your investments with us. The buying and selling costs associated with the changes will be paid from the fund. You don’t need to take any action, but you should review whether your investment in the fund continues to meet your needs.

For more information

You can read more about all the changes in the new fund investment policies below. You can also read the Key Investor Information Documents for the share classes in the funds.

Halifax Ethical Fund
Scottish Widows Environmental Investor Fund
Scottish Widows Ethical Fund

Halifax Ethical Fund

Objective – no change

The investment objective of the Ethical Fund is to achieve capital growth by investing in companies whose activities are considered ethical, both in terms of their primary activities as well as in the means of achieving them.

The benchmark index for the Fund is the MSCI All Country World Index (the “Index”). The Fund is actively managed by the Investment Adviser who selects investments with the aim of outperforming the Index by 2% per annum on a rolling 3 year basis, before deduction of fees.

NEW Investment Policy – from 27th September 2021

At least 80% of the Fund will invest in global shares, including emerging markets. The Investment Adviser will select companies on the basis of a broad range of ethical and socially responsible criteria.

The ACD (Authorised Corporate Director) defines an ethical screen which means that the Fund will not invest, or investment is limited, in certain industries or companies. This approach is taken with companies whose products or services contribute to: social problems; destruction of human life; human rights or labour abuses; environmental damage; animal testing for cosmetic purposes and irresponsible corporate practice.

After screening for ethical criteria the Investment Adviser selects investments based on a company’s growth prospects, market valuation and business risks.

In addition the Investment Adviser engages with investee companies to monitor their compliance with international standards and promote ethical standards. The Fund will also take into account companies that demonstrate their involvement in the community and that have transparent and accountable corporate policies.

The Fund retains a level of portfolio diversification and risk management by investing across different sectors* of the Index and in different market sizes. As a result the Fund’s performance may differ substantially from the Index.

Ethical Screen

The Fund will not invest in companies involved in:

• Alcohol - where the annual revenue from production is greater than 1%; where the annual revenue from supply, distribution and retail companies is greater than 10%;
• Animal testing within the Household and Personal products sectors (according to GICS sub-industry definitions**) - unless committed to the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing or equivalent;
• Fossil Fuels - all thermal coal and tar sands extraction and production; oil and gas extraction, production and refining;
• Gambling and pornography - where annual revenue is greater than 5%;
• Military involvement and weapons - all controversial weapons; production of critical weapons’ components, manufacture or sale of firearms where the annual revenue is greater than 5%;
• UN Global Compact Violators - Companies in violation of UN Global Compact Human Rights or Workplace/Labour standards;
• Nuclear Energy - production or supply where the annual revenue is greater than 5%;
• Tobacco - where the annual revenue from production is greater than 1%; where the annual revenue from supply, distribution and retail companies is greater than 5%.

Subject to the requirements of the Sourcebook and/or the OEIC Regulations, the criteria listed above may be updated from time to time to reflect changing market developments that may have an ethical and/or social impact as agreed by the ACD and the Investment Adviser.

Further detail on the Scottish Widows' commitment and approach to Responsible Investment can be found on the Responsible Investment section of the Scottish Widows website.

A small proportion of the Fund may be invested in cash and cash-like investments. The Fund may also invest in collective investment schemes, including those managed by the ACD and its associates.

Derivatives and stock lending may be used for the purpose of managing the Fund in a way that is designed to reduce risk or cost and/or generate extra income or growth (often referred to as efficient portfolio management).

* A sector is a business area, industry or economy which shares the same characteristics. Company shares are typically grouped into different sectors depending on the company’s business.

**GICS is the Global Industry Classification Standard which categorises global companies into sectors and industries.

The MSCI All Country World Index has been selected as an appropriate benchmark as it provides a representation of the returns of shares across a broad range of developed and emerging markets. This allows the Investment Adviser to select shares that meet the Fund’s ethical criteria from a diverse, global range of shares.

Investment Policy – prior to 27th September 2021

At least 80% of the Fund will invest in global shares, including emerging markets. The Investment Adviser will select companies on the basis of a broad range of ethical and socially responsible criteria. The Fund will seek to avoid investing in companies that display negative characteristics toward, or are involved with, the following activities:

Alcoholic Beverages*
Animal Testing
Business Practices
Environment
Gambling*
Human Rights
Labour/Workplace Issues
Military Involvement*
Nuclear Energy*
Pornography*
Product Quality
Tobacco*
Weapons* *

For these criteria, the Fund will seek to avoid investments in companies which derive over 10% of their annual turnover from such activities, or 5% for pornography.

The Fund will also take into account companies that demonstrate their involvement in the community and that have transparent and accountable corporate policies.

Subject to the requirements of the Sourcebook and/or the OEIC Regulations, the criteria listed above may be updated from time to time to reflect changing market developments that may have an ethical and/or social impact as agreed by the ACD (Authorised Corporate Director) and the Investment Adviser. After screening for ethical criteria the Investment Adviser focuses on the company’s growth prospects, market valuation and specific risks.

The ACD limits the extent to which the Fund’s composition can differ relative to the market for global shares (as represented by the Index). These limits help to deliver a level of portfolio diversification and risk management. The limits also help to achieve an appropriate balance between the extent to which the Fund’s composition can diverge from the Index and providing the Investment Adviser with flexibility to seek outperformance relative to the Index. As a result, the Fund’s performance may differ substantially from the Index.

Further detail on the Scottish Widows' commitment to responsible investment can be found on the Responsible Investment section of the Scottish Widows website.

A small proportion of the Fund may be invested in cash and cash-like investments. The Fund may also invest in collective investment schemes, including those managed by the ACD and its associates.

Derivatives and stock lending may be used for the purpose of managing the Fund in a way that is designed to reduce risk or cost and/or generate extra income or growth (often referred to as efficient portfolio management).

The MSCI All Country World Index has been selected as an appropriate benchmark as it provides a representation of the returns of shares across a broad range of developed and emerging markets. This allows the Investment Adviser to select shares that meet the Fund’s ethical criteria from a diverse, global range of shares.

You can read the Key Investor Information Documents for the share classes in the Halifax Ethical Fund.

Scottish Widows Environmental Investor Fund

Objective – no change

To provide capital growth through investment in shares of UK companies that demonstrate a commitment to the protection and preservation of the natural environment.

The benchmark index for the Fund is the FTSE All-Share Index (the “Index”).

The Fund is actively managed by the Investment Adviser who chooses investments with the aim of outperforming the Index by 3% per annum on a rolling 3 year basis before deduction of fees.

NEW Investment Policy – from 27th September 2021

At least 80% of the Fund will invest in shares of UK companies, with up to 20% in international companies.

The ACD (Authorised Corporate Director) defines screens for UK and International equity markets to prevent investment in specific companies or industry sectors* that are harmful to the environment. The Investment Adviser, in selecting investments it believes provide attractive capital growth, will seek a mix of investment in companies whose specific products and services directly support or provide positive environmental outcomes or benefits, together with companies from any industry sector which, in the Investment Adviser’s opinion, demonstrate high standards regarding sustainable environmental practice.

In seeking companies whose products and services support positive environmental outcomes the Investment Adviser will look to invest in:

• Energy Transition: Companies whose technologies contribute to or assist the transition to Low Carbon energy;
• Environmental Infrastructure: Companies that finance, build or operate energy infrastructure such as wind or solar farms;
• Environmental Industry: Companies whose products or services reduce the environmental impact of industrial activity;
• Low Carbon Consumer: Companies that enable consumers to live more sustainably;
• Circular Economy: Companies involved in the use of, or investment in, recycling technologies and waste management.

Companies which demonstrate high standards regarding sustainable environmental practice may include those which:

• Have responsible sourcing of sustainable resources;
• Promote environmentally responsible behaviour such as recycling;
• Have net zero carbon commitments.

The Fund retains a level of portfolio diversification and risk management by investing typically in 30 to 60 holdings across different sectors* of the Index. The Fund may have greater exposure to small and medium sized companies than the Index. As a result the Fund’s performance may differ substantially from the Index.

The Fund may also invest in collective investment schemes, including those managed by the ACD and its associates, cash and cash like investments.

Derivatives and stock lending may be used for the purpose of managing the Fund in a way that is designed to reduce risk or cost and/or generate extra income or growth (often referred to as efficient portfolio management).

Environmental Screen

In screening the investment universe the ACD identifies and excludes companies which:

• own reserves in; extract; produce; supply; generate; or receive revenue from fossil fuels. This includes thermal coal, gas, oil and tar-sands.
• receive revenue from nuclear energy including nuclear uranium mining,
• are involved in production and use of controversial weapons.

Further detail on the Scottish Widows' commitment to responsible investment can be found on the Responsible Investment section of the Scottish Widows website.

Subject to the requirements of the FCA Rules and/or the OEIC Regulations, the criteria listed above may be updated from time to time to reflect changing market developments that may have environmental impact as agreed with the ACD and the Investment Adviser.

The FTSE All-Share Index has been selected as an appropriate benchmark as it provides a representation of the returns of securities in the UK equity market. The Investment Adviser selects shares that meet the Fund’s environmental criteria from a diverse range of UK shares including those outside of the FTSE All-Share Index.

* A sector is a business area, industry or economy which shares the same characteristics. Company shares are typically grouped into different sectors depending on the company’s business.

Investment Policy – prior to 27th September 2021

At least 80% of the Fund will invest in shares of UK companies, with up to 20% in international companies that demonstrate a commitment to the protection and preservation of the natural environment.

The Fund's investment universe is drawn from companies screened against a broad range of environmental criteria.

After screening for environmental criteria the Investment Adviser focuses on the company’s growth prospects, market valuation and specific risks.

The Fund will typically invest in 30 to 60 holdings.

The ACD (Authorised Corporate Director) limits the extent to which the Fund’s composition can differ relative to the market for UK shares (as represented by the Index). These limits help to deliver a level of portfolio diversification and risk management. The limits also help to achieve an appropriate balance between the extent to which the Fund’s composition can diverge from the Index and providing the Investment Adviser with flexibility to seek outperformance relative to the Index. As a result of the limits and screening for environmental criteria, the Fund’s performance may differ substantially from the Index.

The Fund may also invest in collective investment schemes, including those managed by the ACD and its associates, cash and cash like investments.

Derivatives and stock lending may be used for the purpose of managing the Fund in a way that is designed to reduce risk or cost and/or generate extra income or growth (often referred to as efficient portfolio management).

Environmental Criteria

The Fund will avoid investing in companies which the Investment Adviser considers demonstrate a pattern of non-compliance with local environmental regulations or which significantly contribute to environmental problems. Specific negative screens for this category include significant ownership of fossil fuel reserves (e.g. oil, coal, tar-sands, shale gas) and more than 10% of revenue from nuclear power.

In addition, the environmental due diligence process considers any issue that, within an environmental context, would constitute a pattern of non-compliance with environmental regulations including, but not limited to:

• Fines for offences or repetitive breaches of water pollution regulations, and/or dumping waste (including hazardous waste) in inappropriate areas;
• The production of ozone depleting chemicals where this constitutes a breach of air quality regulations and where fines are imposed:
• The contamination of land or soil where it violates land or soil quality regulations and/or penalties are imposed;
• The production or usage of unlawful or banned pesticides as it relates to the degradation of land or the environment;
• Where timber is concerned, the Investment Adviser will check to see what level of certification of sustainable timber is being used and encourage companies to strive for 80% if they are not doing so already. It will count against a company if they are fined or break the law with regard to timber usage such as deforestation, illegal farming or harvesting;
• Breaking the law or fines for deforestation practices that go against local legislation and laws (as for timber).

In addition to the negative screens, the Investment Adviser will encourage companies to be included in the portfolio to adopt more responsible practices where they are considered to be lacking or deficient with regard to this for example, by disclosing environmental policies, demonstrating commitment to industry or government codes and standards, implementing pollution prevention or conservation programmes.

Further detail regarding investment philosophy and approach can be found on the Responsible Investment section of the Scottish Widows website.

Subject to the requirements of the FCA Rules and/or the OEIC Regulations, the criteria listed above may be updated from time to time to reflect changing market developments that may have environmental impact as agreed with the ACD and the Investment Adviser.

The FTSE All-Share Index has been selected as an appropriate benchmark as it provides a representation of the returns of securities in the UK equity market. This allows the Investment Adviser to select shares that meet the Fund’s environmental criteria from a diverse range of UK shares.

You can read the Key Investor Information Documents for the share classes in the Scottish Widows Ethical Fund.

Scottish Widows Ethical Fund

Objective – no change

To provide capital growth through investment in shares of UK companies with ethical attributes and practises.

The benchmark index for the Fund is the FTSE All-Share Index (the “Index”).

The Fund is actively managed by the Investment Adviser who chooses investments with the aim of outperforming the Index by 3% per annum on a rolling 3 year basis before deduction of fees.

NEW Investment Policy – from 27th September 2021

At least 90% of the Fund will invest in shares of UK companies, and it may also include some international companies.

The ACD (Authorised Corporate Director) defines an ethical screen which means that the Fund will not invest, or investment is limited, in certain industries or companies. This approach is taken with companies whose products or services contribute to: social problems; destruction of human life; human rights or labour abuses; environmental damage; animal testing for cosmetic purposes and irresponsible corporate practice.

After screening for ethical criteria the Investment Adviser selects investments based on a company’s growth prospects, market valuation and business risks. In addition the Investment Adviser engages with investee companies to monitor their compliance with international standards and promote ethical practices. The Fund will also take into account companies that demonstrate their involvement in the community and that have transparent and accountable corporate policies.

The Fund retains a level of portfolio diversification and risk management by investing typically in 30 to 60 holdings across different sectors* of the Index and in different market sizes. As a result the Fund’s performance may differ substantially from the Index.

The Fund may also invest in collective investment schemes, including those managed by the ACD and its associates, cash and cash like investments.

Derivatives and stock lending may be used for the purpose of managing the Fund in a way that is designed to reduce risk or cost and/or generate extra income or growth (often referred to as efficient portfolio management).

Ethical Screen

The Fund will not invest in companies involved in:

• Alcohol - where the annual revenue from production is greater than 1%; where the annual revenue from supply, distribution and retail companies is greater than 10%;
• Animal testing within the Household and Personal products sectors (according to GICS sub-industry defi-nitions**) - unless committed to the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing or equivalent;
• Fossil Fuels - all thermal coal and tar sands extraction and production; oil and gas extraction, production and refining;
• Gambling and pornography - where annual revenue is greater than 5%;
• Military involvement and weapons - all controversial weapons; production of critical weapons’ compo-nents, manufacture or sale of firearms where the annual revenue is greater than 5%;
• UN Global Compact Violators - Companies in violation of UN Global Compact Human Rights or Work-place/Labour standards;
• Nuclear Energy - production or supply where the annual revenue is greater than 5%;
• Tobacco - where the annual revenue from production is greater than 1%; where the annual revenue from supply, distribution and retail companies is greater than 5%.

Further information regarding Scottish Widows’ commitment and approach to Responsible Investment can be found on the Responsible Investment section of the Scottish Widows website.

Subject to the requirements of the FCA Rules and/or the OEIC Regulations, the criteria may be updated from time to time to reflect changing market developments that may have an ethical and/or social impact as agreed with the ACD and the Investment Adviser.

* A sector is a business area, industry or economy which shares the same characteristics. Company shares are typically grouped into different sectors depending on the company’s business.

**GICS is the Global Industry Classification Standard which categorises global companies into sectors and industries.

The FTSE All-Share Index has been selected as an appropriate benchmark as it provides a representation of the returns of securities in the UK equity market. The Investment Adviser selects shares that meet the Fund’s ethical criteria from a diverse range of UK shares including those outside of the FTSE All-Share Index.

Investment Policy – prior to 27th September 2021

At least 90% of the Fund will invest in shares of UK companies, which may include some international companies, that demonstrate ethical attributes and practices.

The Fund’s investment universe is drawn from companies screened against a broad range of ethical criteria.

The Fund will typically invest in 30 to 60 holdings.

The ACD (Authorised Corporate Director) limits the extent to which the Fund’s composition can differ relative to the market for UK shares (as represented by the Index). These limits help to deliver a level of portfolio diversification and risk management. The limits also help to achieve an appropriate balance between the extent to which the Fund’s composition can diverge from the Index and providing the Investment Adviser with flexibility to seek outperformance relative to the Index. As a result of the limits and screening for ethical criteria, the Fund’s performance may differ substantially from the Index.

The Fund may also invest in collective investment schemes, including those managed by the ACD and its associates, cash and cash like investments.

Derivatives and stock lending may be used for the purpose of managing the Fund in a way that is designed to reduce risk or cost and/or generate extra income or growth (often referred to as efficient portfolio management).

After screening for ethical criteria the Investment Adviser focuses on the company’s growth prospects, market valuation and specific risks.

Ethical Criteria

The focus of the Investment Adviser includes, but is not limited to, corporate governance, the environment and labour/human rights. The Investment Adviser applies negative screening criteria in the areas of:

• The production and/or sale of alcoholic, or tobacco or pornographic products;
• Gambling;
• Animal testing;
• Military and weapons.

If a company’s turnover in any of these areas exceeds 10% (or 5% for pornography), it is automatically excluded from the Fund’s investable universe. The Fund takes this approach with alcohol, tobacco, pornography and gambling on the basis that these four areas contribute largely to social problems and to the breakdown of the family and community as a whole. The military and weapons screens serve the purpose of avoiding activities that destroy human life. The Fund will seek to avoid investing in companies that undertake animal testing for cosmetics and toiletries.

The Investment Adviser engages proactively by challenging investee companies on their compliance with international standards including, but not limited to: corporate governance, environmental risks, labour issues & adherence to human rights standards.

Further information regarding the criteria and investment philosophy can be found on the Responsible Investment section of the Scottish Widows website.

Subject to the requirements of the FCA Rules and/or the OEIC Regulations, the criteria may be updated from time to time to reflect changing market developments that may have an ethical and/or social impact as agreed with the ACD and the Investment Adviser.

The FTSE All-Share Index has been selected as an appropriate benchmark as it provides a representation of the returns of securities in the UK equity market. This allows the Investment Adviser to select shares that meet the Fund’s ethical criteria from a diverse range of UK shares.

You can read the Key Investor Information Documents for the share classes in the Scottish Widows Ethical Fund.

From 21st June, we have made a number of changes to funds managed by Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers Limited (SWUTM):

• We’re reducing the Annual Management Charge (AMC) in most of our Fund share classes.
• We’re using some share classes which have a higher AMC for certain new contributions. No customer will have this higher charge applied to any of their current investment holdings and contributions.
• We’re reducing a number of other fund and product charges, and changing the name of some of our funds to better represent the objective and strategy of each.

You can find the latest investment documentation for the funds, for example Key Investor Information Documents (KIIDs), Supplementary Investor Information Documents (SIIDs) and prospectuses at www.scottishwidows.co.uk/kiids

These are the results of the Extraordinary General Meetings which took place on 28th May 2021 at Scottish Widows, Port Hamilton, 69 Morrison Street, Edinburgh, EH3 8YF.

The proposal voted on by investors is to merge the current funds into the proposed funds as shown below. Each current fund and proposed fund are existing funds of Scottish Widows Managed Investment Funds ICVC.

The results were as follows:

^{* The Cautious Income Portfolio 2 is currently known as Momentum Income Portfolio and the Progressive Growth Portfolio 1 is currently known as Strategic Growth Portfolio. We’re changing the names of these funds on 21st June 2021 so that the fund name more clearly represents the objectives and strategy of the fund.}

The proposals have been carried and the mergers will take place on 28th June 2021.

We are closing the Latin American Fund and Diversified Portfolio Fund on 28th June 2021. If you are invested in these funds directly and/or through an ISA, then we’ll have written to you with your options.

Unless we’re instructed otherwise, on 25th June 2021 we will cash-in any OEIC investment in the closing funds and pay out the proceeds. The value of the shares held in the closing funds wrapped within an ISA will be switched to alternative funds with similar risk and investment profiles. We aren’t able to do this for OEIC investments not held within an ISA.

Why are we closing these funds?

We regularly review our fund range to ensure funds remain appropriate for our customers and we’ve decided that some of our funds are unlikely to remain of a viable size in future and the fund costs as a proportion of the overall fund size are expected to increase. This in turn is likely to have a negative effect on the investment return to customers over time.

All costs associated with the transactions of the funds will be paid for by the funds themselves. Other costs, including termination costs, will be paid for by us.

Closing funds and the alternative funds for ISA Customers

The tables below show the charges associated with the share classes of the closing funds and the alternative funds.

Details of the closing Scottish Widows funds

The alternative funds

Visit The Key Investor Information Documents (KIIDs) for the alternative funds.

We’re proposing to merge some of our funds on 28th June 2021. We believe this is in the best interest of our investors.

The following table shows the funds we propose merging:

Each current fund and proposed fund are existing funds of Scottish Widows Managed Investment Funds ICVC.

^{* Cautious Income Portfolio 2 is currently known as Momentum Income Portfolio and Progressive Growth Portfolio 1 is currently known as Strategic Growth Portfolio. We’re changing the names of these funds on 21st June 2021 so that the fund name more clearly represents the objectives and strategy of the fund.}

If you’re invested in these funds directly and/or through an ISA, then we’ll have written to you. We’re asking investors to vote by returning their Proxy Form. We’ll need to receive this on or before 26th May 2021. Investors can vote in person on 28th May 2021 at our Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM).

To make the proposed change, we need approval from 75% of the investors who vote.

We're proposing the merger because:

• The current funds are multi-manager funds which results in an additional level of charges for our investors. We believe this makes it challenging for these funds to consistently provide value for money in the long term
• We believe it’s in investors’ interests to invest in an alternative fund with lower charges
• The current funds are limited in the range of funds and assets they can hold. They can only invest in funds which hold shares and fixed interest securities.

The proposed funds are invested in a range of funds which have a broader range of assets and investment strategies which provide more opportunities for investment return and investment management.

The wider range of assets in the proposed funds such as, property and emerging markets, do have additional risks associated with them. However, we believe that they can provide additional benefits, such as opportunities for return.

If the proposal for the merger is approved, we will sell the assets in the current funds and use derivatives to enable a successful merger into the proposed funds.

All costs associated with the transactions of the funds will be paid for by the funds themselves. Other costs, including termination costs, will be paid for by us.

Visit The Key Investor Information Documents (KIIDs) for the proposed funds. The KIIDs will apply from 21st June 2021.

Investors won’t incur any additional charges as a result of our proposed change.

We’re making some changes to the investments in the Scottish Widows Life and Pension Solution Funds to bring them in line with the other multi-asset funds in our range.

Solution Funds the changes apply to:

• SW Adventurous Solution Fund
• SW Dynamic Solution Fund
• SW Strategic Solution Fund
• SW Balanced Solution Fund
• SW Discovery Solution Fund
• SW Defensive Solution Fund
• SW Cautious Solution Fund

The changes are to the ‘asset allocation’ in the funds. Asset allocation is how money in a fund is divided between different types of investments – or assets - such as equities (also known as shares), bonds and property; and different markets, such as the UK or the US.

Our asset allocation team is responsible for selecting the assets we use, and the markets we invest in, and combining them into what they believe is the most effective mix. This is based on their long-term view of how different asset types and markets will perform over the lifetime of the funds.

Asset allocation changes

The changes we’re making will see a small increase in the overall amount invested in equities, with a reduction in the amount in UK equities to better reflect the make-up of a typical global stock market index. We’re increasing investment in bonds by introducing bonds issued by governments in emerging market countries (those with developing economies) known as ‘Emerging Market Government Debt’. We’re reducing the amount invested in property and removing commodities investments.

Review of the funds we invest in

We use funds to invest in different assets and markets. We regularly review these funds to ensure they continue to meet the aims of the Solution Funds and their risk levels.

Our most recent review has highlighted the SPW Multi Manager International Equity Fund, which invests in a selection of other funds. Its manager, Schroders Personal Wealth, is changing the fund’s structure which means it will no longer be a suitable investment for our Solution Funds. So we’re selling out of this fund and will instead invest directly in individual funds which reflect our preferred mix of investments.

Over time, we’ll be moving away from investing in other ‘multi-manager’ funds (which invest in other funds) in favour of investing directly in a mix of individual funds. This will give us greater control and flexibility.

Japan’s financial markets close on various days throughout the year to mark national holidays. In May, the holidays fall on 3 consecutive days from 3rd to 5th May 2021.

What this means for customers

OEICS AND ISAS

Our three Japanese OEIC funds, which invest exclusively in Japanese equities, will be unavailable for trading on these dates. These funds are:

• Halifax Japanese Fund
• Scottish Widows Japan Growth Fund
• Scottish Widows Japan Equity Fund

Any investors in these OEICs, including those invested via an ISA, who want to buy or sell ahead of the market closure should submit their instructions before the following cut off points:

Regular payments

Any regular payments that would normally be invested into the impacted OEIC funds will be processed after the Japanese markets are re-opened.

Other OEIC funds with some exposure to Japanese equities

Customers investing in other OEICs that are not 100% invested in Japanese shares will continue to be able to buy and sell shares in the funds as usual while the markets are closed.

Life and pension investments

Our life and pension customers will be able to transact normally throughout the period, including in funds that invest exclusively in Japanese shares. For these funds, prices will be published as normal.

From 19th April, we have made a number of changes to funds managed by HBOS Investment Fund Managers Limited (HIFML):

• We’ve reduced the Annual Management Charge (AMC) in many of our Fund share classes
• We’re also lowering the AMC for customers who have been invested in our older share classes on the 20th anniversary of when they first invested
• We’re introducing some share classes which have a higher AMC for certain new contributions; no customer will have this higher charge applied to any of their current investment holdings and contributions
• We’re amending the investment policy of the Special Situations Fund to clarify that up to 10% of the Fund may be invested in shares of other companies anywhere in the world.

You can find the latest investment documentation for the funds, for example Key Investor Information Documents (KIIDs), Supplementary Investor Information Documents (SIIDs) and prospectuses at www.scottishwidows.co.uk/kiids-hbos.

We have now lifted the restrictions on trading on all our life and pension property funds.

Various fund managers announced temporary suspensions on trading in their property funds last year because of valuation uncertainty related to the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak. Our life and pension property funds invest in some of these funds so we had to restrict withdrawals from, and payments into, our property funds.

We have been removing restrictions on a fund-by-fund basis at the earliest possible opportunity following resumption of trading in the underlying property funds in which they invest. This is because managers of underlying property funds have been lifting suspensions at different times.

Retirement Account Fund Supermarket

Some property funds available on the Retirement Account Fund Supermarket remain suspended. As fund managers lift their suspensions on their property funds, we’ll list them here.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has asked all UK Fund Managers to carry out an annual review of the funds they manage so the overall value delivered to customers can be assessed. The reports can be viewed here.

Various fund managers announced temporary suspensions on trading in their property funds earlier this year because of valuation uncertainty related to the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak. Our life and pension property funds invest in some of these suspended funds so we’ve had to restrict withdrawals from, and payments into, our property funds. Our other funds have not been affected by these restrictions.

Property valuers are now able to provide accurate valuations for the properties held in the funds, which they had not been able to do.  Because of that, fund managers are starting to resume trading in their property funds. Suspensions began to lift from 17th September 2020.

Pension Policies beginning with ‘ZU’

For policies beginning with ‘ZU’, we’re beginning to lift trading restrictions on pension property funds. This is being carried out on a fund-by-fund basis at the earliest possible opportunity following resumption of trading in the underlying property funds in which they invest. This is because managers of underlying property funds are lifting suspensions at different times. As we lift the trading restrictions on our life and pension property funds, we’ll list them below.

We’re writing to affected customers to update them.

What it means for customers

DEFERRED WITHDRAWALS

We’re beginning to process deferred withdrawal requests from our life and pension property funds where restrictions have been lifted, and we have prior agreement to proceed.

We’ll only contact those customers who asked us to do so.  If they still want to proceed we’ll carry out the transaction at the next available price date. If we’re unable to contact the customer, we won’t process the withdrawal.

PAYING IN

Since 17 April 2020, unless we’ve been instructed otherwise, existing regular payments that would otherwise have been invested in the affected life and pension property funds are being redirected as follows:

• Payments into a Scottish Widows Group Self Invested Personal Pension (GSIPP) are being redirected to a cash account
• Payments into a Scottish Widows Group Stakeholder Plan (GSP) are being redirected to a money market fund
• Payments into a Scottish Widows Master Trust arrangement are being redirected to the scheme’s default investment option
• Payments into an Occupational Money Purchase (OMP) scheme or to a Mercer Master Trust arrangement are being redirected to a fund selected by the scheme’s trustees

For GSIPP and GSP, once restrictions are lifted, future regular payments will again be invested in the relevant property funds, unless we’ve been instructed to redirect to a different fund. If customers wish to invest their regular payments in one or more other funds, they’ll need to provide us with a new instruction to do so.

For Scottish Widows Master Trust, OMP and Mercer Master Trust, the trustees will decide whether future regular payments continue to be directed to the fund they selected when the restrictions were introduced, to the relevant property fund or funds or to another investment option. Members will receive letters outlining the position for their particular scheme.

CUSTOMER ACTION

Customers should note that cash accounts and money market funds are not designed to be used as long-term investment options. Where payments have been redirected to one of these options while the trading restrictions applied, it is important that customers consider reinvesting the value of these payments in one or more of the other investment options we make available.

LIFESTYLE STRATEGIES

Automatic rebalancing in lifestyle strategies that invest in the affected property funds did not happen while the restrictions applied. When the restrictions are lifted we’re rebalancing the lifestyle strategies to the relevant investment mix.

Property funds available for policies beginning with 'ZU' now trading as normal

We’ll update the list below of funds that have resumed normal trading as restrictions are lifted:

All other life and pension products

For life and pension products, except for policies beginning with ‘ZU’, we began to lift trading restrictions on our life and pension property funds on 28th September. This is being carried out on a fund-by-fund basis at the earliest possible opportunity following resumption of trading in the underlying property funds in which they invest. This is because managers of underlying property funds are lifting suspensions at different times. As we lift the trading restrictions on our life and pension property funds, we’ll list them below.

We’re writing to affected customers to update them.

What it means for customers

DEFERRED WITHDRAWALS

We’re beginning to process deferred withdrawal requests from our life and pension property funds where restrictions have been lifted, and we have prior agreement to proceed. Withdrawals will be priced at the date the restrictions are removed from the fund.

We’ll only contact those customers who asked us to do so.  If they still want to proceed we’ll carry out the transaction at the next available price date. If we’re unable to contact the customer, we won’t process the withdrawal.

PAYING IN

PENSIONS (EXCEPT RETIREMENT ACCOUNT AND POLICIES BEGINNING WITH ‘ZU’) AND LIFE PRODUCTS

Existing regular contributions have continued to be invested in our life and pension property funds throughout this period.

In addition, for property funds trading as normal, we’ll accept new instructions to set up regular payments, increases to existing regular payments, single payments and transfer payments into the funds from 30th September.

RETIREMENT ACCOUNT

Since 17 April 2020, unless we’ve been instructed otherwise, existing regular payments that would otherwise have been invested in the affected pension property funds are being redirected to the customer’s Control Account.

From 30th September, we’ll be directing future regular payments back to the life and pension property funds if normal trading has resumed, unless we’ve been instructed to redirect to a different fund. If customers wish to invest their regular payments in one or more other funds, they’ll need to provide us with a new instruction to do so.

Customers should note that the Control Account is not designed to be used as a long-term investment option. Where payments have been redirected to the Control Account, it is important that customers consider reinvesting the value of these payments in one or more of the other investment options we make available.

LIFE AND PENSION PROPERTY FUNDS NOW TRADING AS NORMAL (FOR PROPERTY FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR POLICIES BEGINNING ‘ZU’ TRADING AS NORMAL – SEE ABOVE)

We’ll update the list below as restrictions are lifted:

Retirement Account Fund Supermarket

Not all property funds are available at this time because fund managers are lifting suspensions at different times. As fund managers lift the suspension on their property funds, we’ll list them here.

We’re writing to affected customers to update them.

If you are invested in one of the property funds listed below through the Retirement Account Fund Supermarket, you can now buy, sell or switch units in these funds.

If you were previously investing regular amounts in one or more of the funds, during the suspension period those amounts were redirected to your Control Account. Money in your Control Account is currently not earning any interest, so we strongly recommended that you consider reinvesting these amounts elsewhere. Unless you’ve made a change to your regular investment instruction, now that the suspension has been lifted, we’ll start directing any future regular investments to the property fund(s) in accordance with your previous instruction.

Funds which have had their suspensions lifted and are now available for trading:

HBOS UK Property Fund; Scottish Widows Pooled Property ACS Fund 1; and Scottish Widows Pooled Property ACS Fund 2.

We are pleased to confirm that the suspension of dealing in the HBOS UK Property Fund, Scottish Widows Pooled Property ACS Fund 1 and Scottish Widows Pooled Property ACS Fund 2 was lifted on 23rd September 2020. This follows consultation with the funds’ Investment Adviser, Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI), and their Depositaries.

Scottish Widows took the decision to temporarily suspend all dealing in the funds at 12 noon on 17th March 2020 to safeguard the interests of customers due to valuations uncertainty as a result of the impact of COVID-19 on property markets. Suspension of dealing meant we could not buy, sell, transfer, switch or exchange shares or units in the funds from that date. The suspension was in common with other authorised open-ended property funds operating in the UK.

The funds’ Standing Independent Valuers have now removed the material valuation uncertainty clause in their valuation reports for most property sectors. This means that none of the assets held by the funds are subject to the material uncertainty clause.

Some Scottish Widows life and pension funds invest in our regulated property funds. We will be issuing information regarding lifting trading restrictions on these life and pension funds as soon as it is available.

Proposed OEIC Fund changes

We’re proposing changes to some of our fixed interest and multi-asset funds to allow our fund managers greater flexibility to help meet the funds’ investment objectives, and aim for delivering improved investment returns.

These changes require approval from OEIC and ISA investors in the funds. We are therefore mailing investors with details of the change and asking them to vote.

• For the fixed interest funds we would like to add the use of derivatives for investment purposes in the funds. We also wish to add bonds and other fixed interest securities from emerging market countries to some of the funds.
• For the multi-assets funds we would like to add a wider range of asset classes and strategies, such as property and absolute return funds. (Absolute return funds aim to provide positive returns regardless of market conditions, although this isn’t guaranteed.)

To enable derivative investment within the Scottish Widows fixed interest funds listed below we are creating new funds. If the votes are successful we will merge the existing funds with the new funds and move investors to those new funds.

• The new funds will have a different regulatory status to the current funds. There are currently two regulatory structures under which funds can be authorised in the UK by the FCA for investment by retail investors: UCITS and NURS.
• The new funds are NURS funds whereas the current are UCITS. UCITS stands for Undertakings in Investments in Transferrable Securities and is established under an EU Directive. Funds authorised as UCITS are subject to certain investment and borrowing restrictions. NURS stands for Non UCITS Retail Scheme fund and has wider investment powers than a UCITS fund.

The tables below provide key dates and details of the impacted funds along with links to the relevant Voting Documents which provide detailed information on our proposed changes. We will update the tables for any other impacted funds shortly before we contact investors.

The changes won’t alter the risk profile or the charges of the funds, such as the annual management charge.

We believe the proposals for change are in the best interests of our investors. We need investor approval, and at least 75% of votes must be cast in favour to make the change.

Key Dates

Fund details

Detailed Fund Information

To access the latest investment documentation for the funds, for example Key Investor Information Documents (KIIDs), Supplementary Investor Information Documents (SIIDs) and prospectuses please visit www.scottishwidows.co.uk/kiids/ for the Scottish Widows funds and www.scottishwidows.co.uk/kiids/kiids-hbos.html for the Halifax funds.

Effect on Income Distributions from SWUTM OEIC Funds

The 5 SWUTM fixed income OEIC funds will see a reduction in income (yield) figure at the point of transfer to the new ICVC. This is due to a regulatory accounting convention which requires SWUTM to revalue the assets in the merging fund at prevailing market value in the receiving fund. Overall the total value of shares won’t be impacted. Investors will notice this from statements and income values. The affected funds are as follows:

1. International Bond Fund
2. Corporate Bond Fund
3. Gilt Fund
4. High Income Bond Fund
5. Strategic Income Fund.

The change we have made has not resulted in any longer term negative impacts and are reflective of interest rates available in bond markets at the current time. The funds are therefore reflecting an income yield reduction that would have occurred over time, but on an accelerated basis. In other words, a more gradual reduction would have been seen without these changes, and the income levels noted would have been achieved anyway.

Additional information

If the vote is successful and regular payments are normally made between 1st and 5th of the month to one of the affected fixed interest funds in either the Scottish Widows Tracker and Specialist Investment Funds ICVC or the Scottish Widows UK and Income Investment Funds ICVC, the regular payment will be collected on the 6th of the month in October 2020. After October, payments will return to their usual date.

We’re offering the option to switch investment free of charge into another fund or funds within our fund range. For details on how to do this for investment in a:

• Scottish Widows ICVC, call us on 0345 300 2244
• HBOS ICVC, call us on 0345 366 1513.

Life and Pension investors

Several of our Life and Pension Funds invest via the OEIC funds listed in the table above.

Changes we proposed making to some of our fixed interest and multi-asset OEIC funds were approved by OEIC and ISA customers on the 4th of September 2020.

The successful vote means that we will be making the changes outlined above. We are also taking this opportunity to update the aims of the affected life and pension funds, to explain they invest via the OEIC and to give detail on how the OEIC fund is invested. We have detailed the funds and their updated aims below in table 1.

There are a further 6 life and pension funds which don’t invest via the OEIC funds. We are making the same change to these funds, so will add derivatives to the funds which invest in fixed interest securities (also known as bonds) and will add a wider range of asset classes and strategies to the multi asset funds. We’ll write to investors in these 6 funds detailed in table 2 below shortly after the 7th September to notify them of the changes we are making.

There is no action required by investors in any of our Life and Pension Funds.

FIXED INTEREST FUNDS

From 5th October 2020, our fund managers will be able to invest using derivatives. This gives them greater flexibility when seeking to meet the funds’ aims. Derivatives have a number of benefits but also have risks. Overall, the use of derivatives isn’t intended to change the risk profile of the funds. We’ll also add bonds and other fixed interest securities from emerging market countries to some of the funds. The changes being made will result in no changes to the funds’ risk profile.

MULTI ASSET FUNDS

From the 5th October our fund managers will be able to invest in a wider range of asset classes and strategies, such as absolute return funds and funds from other investment managers. (Absolute return funds aim to provide positive returns regardless of market conditions, although this isn’t guaranteed.) The changes will give our fund managers greater flexibility when seeking to meet the funds’ aims. They might also use derivatives to pursue their investment objectives.

Overall, the use of derivatives isn’t intended to change the risk profile of the funds. We’ll also add bonds and other fixed interest securities from emerging market countries to some of the funds. The changes being made will result in no changes to the funds’ risk profile.

TABLE 1

The Life and Pension Funds in the following list invest in the underlying assets via our fixed interest and multi-asset OEIC funds. These Life and Pension Funds will continue to invest via the OEIC funds and there is no action needed for Life and Pension investors. We will not be writing to investors in these funds.

TABLE 2

Following a review of investment strategy, linked to the introduction of a new Responsible Investment policy, we have decided to stop our securities lending programme. Securities lending meant that shares and other securities held by a fund could be loaned to other firms for a fee. Based on historic activity levels and anticipated future opportunities, this decision is not expected to make a material impact on returns to the funds.

We regularly review and adapt our pension funds as the market environment and our longer-term outlook changes, and as we see new opportunities for customers emerging.

It’s clear the investment outlook is shifting, exacerbated by the Covid-19 impact, and we expect lower projected returns and potentially continued volatility. So we’re introducing a number of asset allocation changes to the Scottish Widows Pension Portfolio Funds and Scottish Widows Retirement Portfolio Funds which we believe will mean they’re better equipped to overcome these challenges.

Funds the changes apply to

• SW Pension Portfolio 1
• SW Pension Portfolio 2
• SW Pension Portfolio 3
• SW Pension Portfolio 4
• SW Pension Portfolio A
• SW Pension Portfolio B
• SW Pension Portfolio C
• SW Retirement Portfolio 10-40
• SW Retirement Portfolio 30-60
• SW Retirement Portfolio 50-80
• SW Retirement Portfolio 70-100

We believe asset allocation has the biggest impact on the long-term performance of multi-asset funds. It involves dividing a fund’s investments among different asset categories, such as equities (also known as shares), bonds, property etc. Our asset allocation team is responsible for selecting the assets we use and combining them into what they determine is the most effective blend. They also decide on the allocations between different market segments (e.g. US equities versus Emerging Market equities).

The asset allocation changes we’re introducing represent our longer-term view of the potential returns from different asset types over the lifetime of our funds. We’re aiming to deliver improved investment returns for the same level of risk and at no additional charge by:

• Introducing a new asset allocation approach for equities
• Diversifying the investments in the funds into a wider range of asset types
• Introducing currency hedging on a portion of our overseas equities
• Integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations

We’ve worked hard with our fund manager partners to ensure we can make these enhancements without any increase in charge to customers. The changes will be implemented in phases (from early Q3 2020) and will be completed by Q4 2020.

Introducing a new asset allocation approach for equities

In common with many pension providers, our funds currently hold a significant proportion in UK equities – often called a “home bias”. It has generally been the view that investors may feel more comfortable about their home market and be more optimistic about their domestic economy.

As a result, we’ve a higher concentration in UK equities than an index such as the MSCI World Index. This type of index is comprised of the largest companies by the value of their shares or “market-cap”. This means countries like the UK will have a lower weighting in the index because it has fewer big companies in terms of the value of their shares, and a high weighting in regions like the US which has some of the world’s biggest companies by share value.

We’ve taken steps to gradually reduce the UK equity exposure in our funds over the years and our Pension Portfolio Funds and Retirement Portfolio Funds currently have just under 30% of their equity allocation in UK equities. We now consider a further reduction to around 20% achieves an appropriate balance between our customers’ preference to be ‘overweight’ to their home market and a global market cap weight.

In addition, we are amending our approach to overseas equities weightings. We currently allocate to overseas markets purely on the basis of expected contribution to risk and return. As such, our funds deviate significantly from a market-cap benchmark. Our starting point will be to allocate regional weights on a pro-rata market-cap (ex-UK) basis and adjust from that position based on our long-term return assumptions for each region.

Diversifying the investments in the funds into a wider range of asset types

Our latest review tested how a change in our asset allocation could affect future returns in a broad range of investment scenarios under different potential future economic and market conditions. Our asset allocation team considered the full range of available asset classes, then refined the list to those we believed could add most value for the same level of risk. This testing has resulted in the inclusion of the following new asset classes:

• An allocation to Emerging Market Government Debt (EMGD). These are bonds issued by governments in emerging market countries (those with developing economies) in both US dollars and local currencies. The investment case for EMGD can include higher yield and potentially higher income, as well as adding a diversification benefit.
• An allocation to Global Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). REITs are publicly-traded companies that own, operate or develop income-producing property, such as apartment buildings or shopping centres, which generate rent. This asset class is something of a hybrid of property and equities, offering the benefit of exposure to the property sector, with the liquidity of equities. REITs act as a diversifier and often generate reliable income.
• A small allocation to Cash improved the risk characteristics of the portfolios without having a material impact on potential growth, as well as increasing liquidity.

Introducing currency hedging on a portion of our overseas equities

Currency movements can play a substantial role in the returns of a multi-asset portfolio. Foreign currency ‘hedging’ tries to reduce the risk that arises from future adverse movements in an exchange rate between Sterling and a foreign currency. The global bonds in our Pension Portfolio and Retirement Portfolio funds are already hedged to sterling. We will now be adding currency hedging for around 50% of our overseas developed market equity exposure to help optimise returns in flat or more volatile markets. This provides an overall reduction in risk, which means we can achieve greater diversification with the other asset classes.

Integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations

As environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities become better researched and understood, it is clear that these factors can have a financial impact on investment portfolios. Our customers look to us to exercise our judgement on the most appropriate way of investing over the long term. So where we believe ESG factors pose risks to their investments, or offer potential opportunities, we will incorporate them into our decision-making.

We’re taking our next step towards integrating ESG considerations into our pension funds by supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy. We’ll be achieving this by investing 10% of the equities allocation in our Pension Portfolio Funds and Retirement Portfolio Funds into a new fund – the BlackRock ACS Climate Transition World Equity Fund. We’ve collaborated with BlackRock on the design of the fund and it delivers on the ESG investment themes that most resonate with pension savers according to research we recently carried out among 18-60 year olds.

Through this fund, we’ll be backing businesses that decrease carbon emissions, increase clean technology revenue, reduce water consumption and improve waste management.

We’ve restricted trading in our life and pension property funds.

The extraordinary events of Covid-19 are having an impact on the property market as surveyors aren’t able to accurately value properties. This has resulted in fund managers suspending dealing in their property funds to protect customers’ interests.

Our life and pension property funds invest in some of these suspended funds so we’ve had to restrict withdrawals from, and payments into, our property funds.

We’re writing to all affected customers. Our other funds are not affected by these restrictions.

What this means for customers

MAKING WITHDRAWALS

We’re deferring withdrawals from our life and pension property funds, apart from those listed below. That means withdrawals will be deferred until the fund restrictions are lifted, or from 6 months of receipt of the instructions (from 12 months for policies beginning with ‘ZU’), whichever is sooner.

The exceptions to this are:

• Critical illness claims
• Maturities
• Death claims
• Retirement claims
• Income withdrawals from ‘drawdown’ plans
• Annuity payments (from investment-linked annuities)

PAYING IN

Pensions (except Retirement Account and policies beginning with ‘ZU’) and life products

• Any regular contributions which are currently being invested in our life and pension property funds will continue to be invested in those funds.
• The managers of the suspended property funds will continue to calculate an indicative fund value and provide us with daily prices for their funds. These will be used to calculate a price for the Scottish Widows life and pension property funds, which will then be reflected in the investment of any ongoing regular contributions.
• We’re not accepting new instructions to set up regular payments, increases to existing regular payments, or single payments into our life and pension property funds. If we receive any such requests, we’ll ask customers to choose an alternative fund or we’ll refund the payment(s). The exception is our lifestyle strategies where investments will continue to be automatically switched into the property funds where applicable.
• Any pension transfer requests into the affected funds will be rejected.

Retirement Account

For Retirement Account customers, any regular, single or transfer payments to be invested into our pension property funds will be redirected to the Control Account.

Policies beginning with ‘ZU’

Regular, single and transfer payments into our pension property funds will be redirected to an alternative fund or account depending on the type of policy:

• Group Self Invested Personal Pension (GSIPP)
  Payments will be redirected to a cash account until we’re instructed otherwise by the customer or their adviser.
• Group Stakeholder Plan (GSP)
  Payments will be redirected to a money market fund until we’re instructed otherwise by the customer or their adviser.
• Master Trust
  Payments will be redirected to the scheme’s default lifestyle, as instructed by the Master Trust’s scheme trustees.
• Occupational Money Purchase (OMP) and Mercer Master Trust
  Payments will be redirected to a fund selected by the scheme’s trustees.

Automatic rebalancing in lifestyle strategies that invest in the affected property funds will be suspended until normal trading resumes.

Control Account, cash accounts and money market funds

These options are not designed to be used as long-term investments. It’s important for customers to consider reinvesting payments redirected to these investment options in another investment fund or funds.

How long will the trading restrictions last?

The managers of the suspended property funds aim to lift the suspensions when normal market conditions return. Once this happens, we’ll remove our restrictions and reinstate normal trading in our life and pension property funds. We’ll write to all affected customers to let them know.

Japan’s financial markets close on various days throughout the year to mark national holidays. In May, the holidays fall on 3 consecutive days from 4th to 6th May 2020.

What this means for customers

OEICS AND ISAS

Our three Japanese OEIC funds, which invest exclusively in Japanese equities, will be unavailable for trading on these dates. These funds are:

• Halifax Japanese Fund
• Scottish Widows Japan Growth Fund
• Scottish Widows Japan Equity Fund

Any investors in these OEICs, including those invested via an ISA, who want to buy or sell ahead of the market closure should submit their instructions before the following cut off points:

REGULAR PAYMENTS

Any regular payments that would normally be invested into the impacted OEIC funds will be processed after the Japanese markets are re-opened.

OTHER OEIC FUNDS WITH SOME EXPOSURE TO JAPANESE EQUITIES

Customers investing in other OEICs that are not 100% invested in Japanese shares will continue to be able to buy and sell shares in the funds as usual while the markets are closed.

LIFE AND PENSION INVESTMENTS

Our life and pension customers will be able to transact normally throughout the period, including in funds that invest exclusively in Japanese shares. For these funds, prices will be published as normal.

If your Retirement Account is invested in one or more of the suspended funds through the Retirement Account Fund Supermarket, you won’t be able to buy or sell shares in these funds, including switches between funds, during the suspension period. If you are making regular investments in these funds, these will be redirected to your Control Account. Money held in the Control Account does not currently earn any interest, so you should consider how these amounts should be invested, and may wish to take financial advice.

If you are invested in a fund that’s suspended, we’ll write to you and where possible contact your adviser when the suspension ends. We will also post updates on this page.

These are the Fund Supermarket funds currently suspended:

Scottish Widows has taken the decision to temporarily suspend all dealing in the following Funds with effect from 12 noon on 17th March 2020:

• HBOS UK Property Fund
• Scottish Widows Pooled Property ACS Fund 1
• Scottish Widows Pooled Property ACS Fund 2

These Funds are available for investment by Scottish Widows life and pension customers. We will issue more information about how these customers are affected as soon as this is available.

The decision has been made to safeguard the interests of customers and has been agreed with the Funds’ depositaries.

Suspension of dealing means we cannot buy, sell, transfer, switch or exchange shares in the Funds until further notice.

To calculate the daily share price of the Funds, the properties owned by the Funds are regularly valued by a Standing Independent Valuer using recognised professional valuation standards. Markets around the world have experienced huge disruption as COVID-19 spreads and trading in the UK property market is being severely impacted. As a result the Funds’ Standing Independent Valuers have informed Aberdeen Standard Investors (ASI), the Investment Advisers to the Funds, that it is not currently possible to provide accurate and reliable valuations for the properties held in the Funds.

It has, therefore, not been possible to produce a price for the Funds which we can say with any confidence reflects the true value of the assets.

To protect the interests of customers, we have suspended dealing in the Funds.

This action reflects the exceptional circumstances in the UK property market and the need to protect customer interests by suspending trading when there is material uncertainty regarding how the assets should be valued. We will aim to lift the suspension as soon as confidence returns to the market and there is more certainty regarding asset valuations, taking into account the best interests of customers.

Various fund managers have announced they are temporarily suspending trading in their property funds because of valuation uncertainty related to the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak. This means we will be unable to buy and sell shares in these funds, during the suspension period.

The following property funds are currently suspended:

• M&G Property
• Kames Property Fund
• L&G UK Property Funds and Feeder Funds
• Standard Life Investments UK Real Estate Fund
• Aviva Investors Property Fund
• Janus Henderson UK Property Fund
• Aberdeen UK Property Fund
• Threadneedle UK Property

Some of our plans invest in these funds, and we’re currently considering what action to take in response. We’ll provide an update here shortly. We’re also considering the position for our own Scottish Widows Property Funds and will post updates here when we can.

If you are invested in one of the suspended funds through the Retirement Account Fund Supermarket, you won’t be able to buy or sell shares in these funds, including switches between funds, during the suspension period. If you are making regular investments in these funds, these will be redirected to your Control Account. You should consider how these amounts should be invested, and may wish to take financial advice.

The Scottish Widows JPM Global Macro Balanced Fund has closed due to persistent underperformance and change in risk profile. Customers in this fund have been switched into an alternative fund, the Scottish Widows Defensive Managed Fund, unless we were instructed otherwise. This took place on or shortly after 16th February 2020. We also explained the options available to customers via letter.

You can find more information on the Scottish Widows Defensive Managed Fund and our other funds in either the Scottish Widows Pension Funds Investor’s Guide (PDF, 863KB) or the Scottish Widows Life Funds Investor’s Guide (PDF, 542KB), or you can ask us for more information.

Neil Woodford’s flagship Woodford Equity Income Fund is being wound up. The first tranche of the wind-up proceeds has now been paid out, and the rest of the assets will be sold in further tranches over the coming months. Some Scottish Widows life and pensions customers are invested in this fund through the SW Woodford Equity Income Funds.

We’ve reinvested the amount paid to us on customers’ behalf into the Royal London UK Equity Income Fund, as we previously outlined we would do. We’ve chosen this fund because it also invests in UK company shares, is similar to the closing fund and has lower charges.

This means customers in the SW Woodford Equity Income Fund are temporarily partly invested in the Woodford Equity Income Fund, and partly in the Royal London UK Equity Income Fund.

Each future tranche of cash returned from the former Woodford Equity Income Fund will also be reinvested in the Royal London UK Equity Income Fund until all wind up proceeds from Woodford’s administrators have been received.

At that point we’ll close the SW Woodford Equity Income Fund and switch customers in this fund into the SW Royal London UK Equity Income Fund, free of charge.

We continue to allow customers to switch out of the SW Woodford Equity Income Fund, free of charge, to any other fund in our range. We believe this could remove any uncertainty for customers. Customers should speak to a financial adviser if they are unsure what to do.

Please read The Scottish Widows Pension Funds Investor’s Guide (PDF, 863KB) for full details of the Scottish Widows Pension Fund range.

Please read The Scottish Widows Life Funds Investor’s Guide (PDF, 542KB) for full details of the Scottish Widows Life Fund range.

We’re making changes to our Balanced, Cautious, Opportunities and Progressive Portfolio Funds. From 28th February 2020:

• Schroders Investment Management (Schroders) will take over from Aberdeen Asset Investments Limited as the Funds’ Investment Adviser.
• Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers Limited (SWUTM) will replace Russell Investments Limited in determining which type and percentage of asset classes the Funds invest in over the medium to long term.
• Schroders will select the Funds’ underlying multi-manager funds, and they may make short-term asset class changes when appropriate.
• For the Balanced Portfolio Fund we’ll change the Investment Association sector that’s used to measure the Fund’s performance*.

We expect Schroders to make changes to some of the underlying funds, to reflect their market views and economic forecasts. This will result in a short term increase in transaction costs to the Funds, but we believe these changes will benefit the Funds over the longer term.

We are writing to all affected customers, explaining that if they believe these Funds still meet their investment needs they don’t need to do anything. The changes don’t alter the risk profile or the ongoing charges of the Funds, such as the annual management charges. We’re updating all the Funds’ investment policies to clarify these new roles and responsibilities. We have also updated the investment objective of the Balanced Portfolio Fund to incorporate a minor amendment to clarify the objective of this Fund.

For more on the background to our change of Investment Adviser, along with information on transaction costs and a detailed Q&A, please see our August announcement below: ‘New Investment Advisers of our OEIC and ISA Funds’.

* Investment Association sectors group funds with broadly similar characteristics to compare performance. More information can be found at www.theinvestmentassociation.org/fund-sectors

We’re changing the Investment Adviser for the Scottish Widows High Reserve OEIC Fund. Schroders Investment Management (Schroders) will take over from Aberdeen Asset Investments Limited on 28th February 2020.

With the change of Investment Adviser, the Fund’s annual income target will change. This is so that bonds and shares can be measured separately to better reflect returns that might be available from these different types of asset in the Fund. We’re updating the Fund’s investment objective to show this and also clarifying roles and responsibilities.

We expect the new Investment Adviser to change some of the individual assets currently held within the Fund to reflect their views, economic forecasts and the market. This will result in a short-term increase in transaction costs to the Fund, however we believe these changes will benefit the Fund over the longer term.

We are writing to all affected customers, explaining that if they believe the Fund still meets their investment needs they don’t need to do anything. The changes don’t alter the risk profile or the ongoing charges of the Fund, such as the annual management charge.

How is the income target changing?

We are changing the income target so that it’s better aligned to the Fund’s assets, which are mainly equities (or shares) and fixed interest bonds.

The current target aims ‘to deliver performance in excess of 110% of the dividend yield of the FTSE All Share Index each year before deduction of fees’. The FTSE ALL Share Index is purely for equities, so does not include any bonds.

The income target from 28th February 2020 will change to:

‘The Fund is actively managed by the Investment Adviser who chooses investments which, collectively, aim to provide an income return in excess of 110% of the Benchmark income yield, each year before deduction of fees. The Benchmark income yield is based on 75% of the FTSE All Share Index dividend yield and 25% of the yield of the iBOXX Sterling Corporate and Collateralised Index. Index Yields are calculated by totaling the annual income paid and dividing it by the respective total value of each index.’

The key change is including the yield of the iBOXX Sterling Corporate and Collateralised Index as 25% of the benchmark. This iBOXX index is a bond index, so now the overall benchmark is a mix of bond and equity yields, which is a more accurate reflection of the Fund’s asset mix.

As an indication, the forecast annual income target based on the current ‘FTSE All Share only’ target during September 2019 was 4.73%, whereas under the new combined target it would have been 4.56%. Please note that these figures are purely for illustrative purposes and don’t indicate any future income target.

Further information

For more on the background to our change of Investment Adviser, along with information on transaction costs and a detailed Q&A, please see our August announcement below: ‘New Investment Advisers of our OEIC and ISA Funds’.

It was announced on Tuesday 15th October that Neil Woodford’s flagship Woodford Equity Income Fund will be wound up, with the assets sold over an extended period of time from January 2020. Some Scottish Widows life and pensions customers are invested in the fund through the SW Woodford Equity Income Funds.

In light of these developments, the SW Woodford Equity Income Life and Pension Funds are now closed to new investments, and we plan to fully close the funds when the Woodford Equity Income Fund is wound up and the administrator pays out the proceeds.

We’re writing to all customers invested in the SW Woodford Equity Income Funds, offering them the option to switch into an alternative fund from our fund range. We believe this can help to remove any uncertainty for our customers.

The Woodford Equity Income Fund continues to price daily, and these prices will be reflected in the prices of the SW Woodford Equity Income Fund. As with all investments, prices can rise as well as fall and there is the potential for it to be worth less than the original investment.

If customers don’t select an alternative fund, when the Woodford Equity Income Fund closes we’ll reinvest the amount paid to us on their behalf into the SW Royal London UK Equity Income Fund, which we’ve chosen because it also invests in UK company shares, is similar to the closing fund and has lower charges.

Any regular payments being made into the SW Woodford Equity Income Fund will be paid into the SW Royal London UK Equity Income Fund from 25th October 2019, unless or until customers give us an alternative instruction. We’re asking all affected customers who are making regular payments to review the SW Royal London UK Equity Income Fund to determine whether it’s suitable for their investment needs. If they prefer, they can select a different fund from our fund range.

We are adopting a different approach for a small number of customers who are already invested in the maximum number of funds for their plan. For these customers, any future regular payments into the SW Woodford Equity Income Fund will be invested proportionally across the other funds they have chosen. Customers can change how they invest their regular premiums at any time.

If there are any further developments we will update this page as soon as possible.

Please read The Scottish Widows Pension Funds Investor’s Guide (PDF, 863KB) for full details of the Scottish Widows Pension Fund range.

Please read The Scottish Widows Life Funds Investor’s Guide (PDF, 542KB) for full details of the Scottish Widows Life Fund range.

We’re replacing AberdeenStandard Life Aberdeen, Aberdeen Standard Investments, Aberdeen Asset Investments and Aberdeen Investment Solutions as the Investment Manager of most of our funds. Our actively managed funds, where the Investment Manager seeks to add value by making decisions on which investments to buy, sell or hold will move to Schroders, with the exception of the HBOS Ethical OEIC (including the Clerical Medical Ethical, Clerical Medical Evergreen and Halifax Ethical life and pension funds which invest in the OEIC), which will move to Hermes Investment Management.

We believe these appointments will benefit you through the prospect of improved future performance. The funds will continue to be managed within their existing risk profile.

The new Investment Managers will take on the relevant funds over a period of time from the end of September 2019. Aberdeen will continue to manage our property and tracker funds until April 2022. Acting within a set of restrictions specified and monitored by us, they’ll be responsible for the day-to-day asset management of these funds with the aim of achieving the funds’ investment objectives.

Scottish Widows will retain ownership of these funds and will remain responsible for defining the funds’ aims, determining the Investment Managers’ performance targets and the strict parameters on how they should be run. Their performance will be regularly monitored.

You don’t need to do anything. We’ll update our webpage with key information as the changes are made. Please check the website regularly to keep up to date with progress on the funds you’re invested in.

What’s changing?

The change of Investment Manager will apply to a number of Scottish Widows, Halifax and Clerical Medical funds.

We expect the new Investment Managers will change some of the assets currently held within the actively managed funds to reflect their views of assets in the funds, economic forecasts and the market.

Changes to assets within the actively managed funds will result in a short term increase in transaction costs to the funds, however, these will be capped and monitored by us to limit their impact on short term performance. More information on transaction costs and the limits that apply can be found below.

Your fund or funds within your unit-linked savings policy, protection plan, bond, endowment or pension plan may invest directly in assets, or indirectly through another fund (such as one of our OEIC funds), or through a range of funds for a multi-asset portfolio. If the fund invests directly in assets or via one of our OEIC funds then there may be a short term increase in transaction costs to the fund.

If the fund is a multi-asset portfolio fund which invests in several other funds, then only some, or even none, of these underlying funds may be affected by this change. Where this is the case, the fund will bear minimal or no increase in transaction costs. If you’d like to understand how you’re invested you can call us.

There is also no change to external funds managed by third party fund managers, other than Aberdeen.

We’re currently assessing all of the Aberdeen-owned funds we invest in on a fund-by-fund basis and we’ll update this page with key information as the changes are made.

Some of our multi-asset funds, invest in a tactical asset allocation (TAA) fund managed on our behalf by Aberdeen. TAA involves adjusting the long-term asset allocation within a portfolio to capture shorter-term relative value opportunities in markets. Schroders will take over the management of this underlying tactical asset allocation fund in Q1 2020.

What’s not changing?

There won’t be a change to the funds’ annual management charges.

Our Governed Investment Strategies (GIS) and Pension Investment Approaches (PIA) also won’t change. GIS and PIA regularly rebalance and gradually move your pension into lower risk investments as you approach your selected retirement date.

Our Scottish Widows’ investment specialists will continue with long and medium-term strategic asset allocation for a number of Scottish Widows funds and portfolios to determine the optimal mix of asset classes, based on the expected return of those asset classes over five years and longer.

We’re replacing AberdeenStandard Life Aberdeen, Aberdeen Standard Investments, Aberdeen Asset Investments and Aberdeen Investment Solutions as the Investment Adviser to most of our funds. Our actively managed funds, where the Investment Adviser seeks to add value by making decisions on which investments to buy, sell or hold will move to Schroders. The Halifax Ethical fund’s Adviser will be Hermes Investment Management.

We believe these appointments will benefit you through the prospect of improved future performance. The funds will continue to be managed within their existing risk profile.

The new Investment Advisers will take on the relevant funds over a period of time from the end of September 2019. Aberdeen will continue to manage our passive and property funds until April 2022. Acting within a set of restrictions specified and monitored by us, they’ll be responsible for the day-to-day asset management of these funds with the aim of achieving the funds’ investment objectives.

Scottish Widows will retain ownership of these funds and will remain responsible for defining the investment objectives and policies, determining the Investment Advisers’ performance targets and the strict parameters on how they should be run. Their performance will be regularly monitored.

You don’t need to do anything. We’ll update our webpage with key information as the changes are made. Please check the website regularly to keep up to date with progress on the funds you’re invested in.

What’s changing?

The change of Investment Adviser will apply to a number of Scottish Widows and Halifax funds.

We expect the new Investment Advisers will change some of the assets currently held within the actively managed funds to reflect their views of assets in the funds, economic forecasts and the market.

Changes to assets within the actively managed funds will result in a short term increase in transaction costs to the funds, however, these will be capped and monitored by us in order to limit their impact on short term performance. More information on transaction costs and the limits that apply can be found below.

There won’t be a change to the funds’ annual management charges.

The Financial Conduct Authority, the regulator of the asset management industry, has set new standards for disclosure of fund objectives and identified other changes to help investors’ understanding and ability to compare fund performance.

Following this, we’ve reviewed our funds’ objectives and policies and we’re making updates to add clarification on the funds’ strategies, the assets they hold and how the funds seeks to achieve their objective.

Where a fund has a benchmark (the index against which the performance of the fund is measured), we’re making that clear in the fund’s objective. For other funds which don’t have a benchmark index, we’re suggesting an Investment Association sector of similar funds which can be used to compare performance.

You don’t need to do anything. We’ll update our webpage with key information as the changes are made. Please check the website regularly to keep up to date with progress on the funds you’re invested in.

Background - as at July 2019

The Managed Growth Funds are currently sub funds of the Investment Portfolio ICVC. The aim of the proposal is to keep those Funds under the management of Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers Limited (SWUTM).

To keep the Managed Growth Funds under SWUTM’s management, it’s necessary to merge the Managed Growth Funds into new corresponding funds within the Scottish Widows Investment Solutions Funds ICVC. The Investment Portfolio ICVC will then move to its new fund manager.

Why are we proposing to merge the funds?

Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) have entered into a new joint venture (JV) with Schroders plc. The JV is targeted towards high net worth individuals with an adviser actively providing investment advice. As the Managed Growth Funds were designed to support LBG Retail customers using a non-advised online product we believe that SWUTM is best placed to maintain the Managed Growth Funds going forward and provide continuity for investors.

The merger won’t alter your investment. It won’t affect how the funds are managed, or change the Funds’ objectives or policies.

There will be no changes to the asset allocation, charges or risk profile of your investment, as a result of the fund merger. The merger will not be treated as a disposal for tax purposes, meaning you’ll not be liable to pay any Capital Gains Tax as a result of the merger. The tax treatment of your investment will be unchanged.

Update: January 2020

The Extraordinary General Meetings (EGMs) for each fund took place on 29th August 2019 and the votes for all seven Solution funds were carried.

What happens now the vote is successful?

On 9th December 2019, in accordance with FCA requirements, the Authorised Corporate Director (ACD) for the Investment Portfolio and Multi-Manager Investment Companies with Variable Capital (ICVCs) changed from SWUTM to Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth (ACD) Limited (SWSPWA). We wrote to you in October 2019 if you’re invested in funds within one or both of these ICVCs. If you hold ISA investments in these funds, SWSPWA also became your ISA Manager on that date.

Background

We’re proposing to merge our seven Solution funds in the Scottish Widows Investment Solutions Funds ICVC (Investment Company with Variable Capital) into the Investment Portfolio ICVC. Both ICVCs are currently managed by Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers Limited (SWUTM). SWUTM is the Authorised Corporate Director (ACD) for both of the ICVCs.

By the end of 2019, subject to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approval, we aim to move the management of the Solution funds to a new joint venture between Lloyds Banking Group and Schroders plc. Scottish Widows is part of Lloyds Banking Group.

Why are we proposing to merge the funds?

We want to merge these funds to allow us to move the management of the Solution funds to a new company by the end of 2019. To do this, we need to move the Solution funds into the Investment Portfolio ICVC, which will then move across to the new company, subject to FCA approval.

This change won’t affect how the funds are managed, their objectives or policies. The new Solution funds will mirror the existing Solution funds. As part of this change there will be some changes to how your Account is administered and also changes to the service providers of the ICVCs. View more information about those changes.

Why do we want to move the ICVC to a new company?

Lloyds Banking Group have entered into a new joint venture with Schroders plc, called Schroders Personal Wealth, which continues our commitment in developing new capabilities to support you with your investments and financial planning. This joint venture brings together Lloyds Banking Group’s multi-channel and digital capabilities with Schroders’ strengths in active asset management and platform technology.

This joint venture aligns the expertise of Schroders Personal Wealth in portfolio construction, and the investment management strength of Schroders Investment Management, in providing adviser services to multi-asset funds.

Schroders is a global asset and wealth manager, who delivers a broad range of investment strategies designed to meet the diverse needs of investors. They are focused on providing investment solutions for wealth customers.

We believe that the investment capability and development of wealth management solutions that Schroders Personal Wealth provide will be beneficial in generating future returns for investors.

Please note JP Morgan is making changes to this fund, which will take place on 31st October. Please see their website for further details.

At Scottish Widows, we regularly review the funds we offer. We've decided to close some funds within our Scottish Widows life and pension range.

The funds, listed below, closed to new business on the 30th of June 2017. Customers were moved to defaults on the 10th of October 2017. The funds closed on the 12th October 2017.

LIFE FUNDS

• SW Fidelity Japan Life Fund
• SW Fidelity Multi Asset Strategic Life Fund
• SW Henderson UK Alpha Life Fund
• SW Investec Global Free Enterprise Life Fund (previously the SW Investec Global Strategic Equity Fund)
• SW JPM Managed Life Fund
• SW Newton Growth Fund (previously the SW Newton UK Equity Fund)
• SW Newton Managed Income Life Fund
• SW Newton Oriental Life Fund
• SW Schroder European Alpha Plus Life Fund
   

PENSION FUNDS

• SW Baillie Gifford 60:40 Worldwide Equity Pension Fund
• SW BlackRock UK Absolute Alpha Pension Fund
• SW Fidelity Japan Pension Fund
• SW Fidelity Multi Asset Strategic Pension Fund
• SW Henderson UK Alpha Fund
• SW Investec Global Free Enterprise Pension Fund (previously the SW Investec Global Strategic Equity Fund)
• SW JPM Managed Pension Fund
• SW Newton 50:50 Global Equity Fund
• SW Newton Managed Income Pension Fund
• SW Newton Oriental Pension Fund
• SW Newton UK Equity Pension Fund
• SW Schroder European Alpha Plus Pension Fund
• SW SSgA Sterling Liquidity Pension Fund

On 14 May 2017 we changed a number of our Scottish Widows and Clerical Medical life and pension fund names. For the majority of the fund this was because some of our Investment Partners have changed the names of funds which we link to through the Scottish Widows and Clerical Medical life and pension fund ranges.

However, following a performance review, we have decided to change the investment of the CM Newton Oriental Fund to fully invest in the Veritas Asian Fund, which is managed by Veritas Asset Management. As a result of this change, the fund you are invested in will be renamed the CM Veritas Asian Fund.

The changes are as follows:

Customers do not need to do anything, but please note that when searching for up to date factsheets you will now need to use the new fund name. For further details, factsheets can be viewed online using the links for Pension Funds and Life Funds located towards the top of this webpage.

We have changed the way the Scottish Widows Consensus Fund is managed. This change affects its fund aim, but there is no change to the risk profile of the fund, and customers do not need to take any action.

The asset allocation of the Scottish Widows Consensus funds was previously directed by the CAPS Pooled Pension Survey, which was provided by BNY Mellon. BNY Mellon has stopped providing this survey. As a result, the Scottish Widows Consensus Fund is now managed using a composite benchmark made up of Equity, Bonds, Property and Commodities.

We wrote to all customers invested in this fund to explain the situation. Customers who believed that the fund remained right for them and still met their investment needs didn't need to do anything. However, any customers who felt that the fund no longer met their investment needs had the option to switch out of the fund for no charge.

Scottish Widows is committed to maintaining a broad range of high quality, innovative and cost-effective investment solutions for our customers. From 14th November 2016 we introduced 21 new funds to our Scottish Widows fund ranges for most of our pension and life products to give our customers more choice.

We've added exciting new options from leading fund managers after thoroughly researching the market. These include more multi-asset and absolute return funds, which have become increasingly popular with customers, and also some relatively new types of funds which invest in innovative ways. In addition, we added award-winning funds from more traditional sectors, run by some of the most respected managers in the industry.

These new funds have been chosen following a detailed review of the market by our experienced Fund Manager Assessment team. We monitor and review our fund ranges, and aim to make suitable changes to meet our customers’ evolving needs and keep up with significant new developments. These fund launches are therefore part of our long term commitment to provide what we see as the very best investment solutions for our customers.

You can obtain more information from a financial adviser. If you don’t have your own financial adviser, you can find one by visiting www.unbiased.co.uk. Please note that you may be charged for advice provided.

The value of your investment and any income from it is not guaranteed and can go down as well as up. You may not get back the original amount you invested.

Following the EU Referendum outcome there was uncertainty surrounding the property market, and this has had implications for funds which invest in property. Some funds were temporarily suspended, and a number were re-valued to more accurately reflect the reduced values of their property holdings (known as a 'fair value adjustment' or FVA). The updated position on funds in our range is as follows:

In early September we removed FVAs from all our funds which invest in property.

The SW Henderson UK Property fund was suspended in July following Henderson’s decision to suspend their underlying fund. Henderson have announced that they are planning to lift the suspension on their underlying fund on 14 October 2016. In that event, we intend to lift the suspensions on the SW Henderson UK Property life and pensions funds on the same date.