Life insurance and pensions company Commercial Union, which has now become Aviva Lietuva, starts the year by offering a new service, Aviva fondai (Aviva Funds) investment life insurance.
Life insurance and pensions company Commercial Union, which has now become Aviva Lietuva, starts the year by offering a new service, Aviva fondai (Aviva Funds) investment life insurance. This service allows the company's clients to combine the advantages of life insurance and investment services and to invest funds in as many as 14 funds which are managed by the Aviva-owned investment company, Morley Fund Management. This company was set up in London over 30 years ago and is currently the second largest company in Britain in terms of the funds that it manages.
Aviva fondai provides wide investment opportunities to all of the company's clients, depending on their risk tolerance, both for those investing conservatively as well as for those seeking higher rewards who are not afraid of bigger fluctuations. "Although a fund's past performance does not guarantee the same results in future, when choosing investment directions, we took into account fund managers' experience, the size of the funds and the results achieved by them," said Asta Ungulaitiene, managing director of Aviva Lietuva.
For example, in the New Markets Bonds Fund, the return over the past three years amounted to 27%. Substantial return was also yielded by Aviva stock funds: the stable market European Stock Fund returned 69.2% over the same three-year period, while the New Markets Stock Fund returned as much as 193.2%. Money from this latter fund is invested in shares of companies in Korea, China, Taiwan, Russia, Brazil and other rapidly growing countries. It is currently the most popular investment direction chosen by the first Aviva fondai clients. The American Stock Fund return was more humble - it was 22%, while the returns of the European Short-Term Bond Fund and European Long-Term Bond Fund stood at 3.6%and 7.4% respectively. However, because of the growing competitiveness of the US economy, the value of high-tech US companies should increase. The return of the European Bond Market should also increase as a result of the likely lowering of the base interest rate by the European Central Bank in the second half of 2008.
Aviva Lietuva is the only life insurance company in Lithuania offering the unique opportunity of investing in socially responsible companies. "Socially responsible investing reflects the business orientation of our company and at the same time offers the possibility of earning more to progressive investors - those who think it is important to seek profit in an honest manner, without polluting the environment and by protecting our planet from negative effects such as global warming," said Asta Ungulaitiene, managing director of Aviva Lietuva.
This direction of investment is aimed at European shares, and the return of this fund for the past three years amounted to as much as 79.4%, regardless of the fact that investment goes to companies that spend a lot of additional funds on the development of socially responsible business. It is interesting that this yield exceeded the return of the European Shares Fund, which returned 69.2% during the same period.
"We entered 2008 with the new name of Aviva Lietuva and we offer a service which provides even wider investment opportunities to the people of our country. Aviva Funds are built in such a way that every client may not only choose the direction of investment which is most suitable for him and diversify the investment but also, taking into account market trends, move from one fund to another on the most beneficial terms, without terminating the contract," said Asta Ungulaitiene, managing director of Aviva Lietuva.
When choosing Aviva fondai investment directions, clients of Aviva Lietuva may additionally purchase insurance protection: in the event of an accident, the insured person receives an amount twice as large as that invested into Aviva funds. Where the accident happens, and where there is no additional protection, the client is paid the accumulated value or the contribution made, whichever is larger. In addition, every person investing into Aviva fondai, shall have the chance to use a tax benefit which is applicable to all life assurance products where capital is accumulated.
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Additional information is available from:
Vaidotas Aleksiūnas
Marketing and Public Relations Manager
Telephone (8 5) 269 0620
Mobile 8 682 222 01
E-mail: vaidotas_aleksiunas@aviva.lt
Indrė Minderienė
Senior Communications Specialist
Telephone (8 5) 269 0610
E-mail: indre_minderiene@aviva.lt
Notes to editors:
Aviva Lietuva is one of the leaders in life insurance and pensions in our country and has 170,000 clients, served by 550 professional financial advisers. The company started work in Lithuania over six years ago under the name of Commercial Union. At the end of 2007, the company was renamed Aviva Lietuva.