THE THINGS
YOU
NEED
TO KNOW

OTHER THAN THE TYPE OF BENEFIT YOU ARE TAKING ON, THERE ARE OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW.

1. ABOUT YOUR POLICY

Your Simple Life policy is a contract between the policy owner(s) named in the schedule (you or your) and Sovereign (we , our or us).

If more than one person is named as the policy owner, the policy is owned by all of them jointly. Any request, instruction or notice to us to do with your policy must be given by all policy owners unless we are satisfied
that, after reasonable efforts have been made, a policy owner cannot be located. In that case we may act on a request, instruction or notice given by the other policy owner(s) and, if we do, we will not be liable to any person for any consequences.

Your cover is on the life assured named in them schedule . If there is more than one life assured named in the schedule , you have separate cover on each life assured.

When does your policy start?

Your policy starts on the policy start date shown in the schedule.

What benefits do you get under your policy?

The benefits you have chosen are shown in the schedule.

When does your policy end?

Your policy will end if:

• You cancel your policy; or
• Any premium for your policy is unpaid for more than 90 days from the due date; or
• We end your policy in any of the circumstances described under the heading ‘When can we end your policy?’

When do the benefits cease?

You will no longer be covered for any benefit if your policy ends or when:

• For a Life Benefit – the life assured reaches age 100.
• For a Loan and Rent Assistance Benefit or a Redundancy Benefit – the life assured dies or reaches age 70.

When can we end your policy?

If you make a claim that is false or fraudulent in any respect, we may cancel your policy and decline liability for the claim. In that case, any amount that we have paid already for the claim must be repaid to us. Except as provided by law, we may avoid your policy if any statement made by you, a life assured or any other person on the faith of which we entered into, reinstated or renewed your policy was substantially incorrect and material.

If we avoid your policy, it means that your policy is deemed never to have existed. If we cancel or avoid your policy as a result of fraud, we may keep all premiums that have been paid.

2. How To Make A Claim

To make a claim:

• Download a claim form directly from www.sovereign.co.nz (search Sovereign Simple Life claim form); or
• Call 0800 500 108. Send the completed form and any supporting information:

By email to:

claims@sovereign.co.nz

Or by post to:

Freepost Sovereign
Private Bag Sovereign
Victoria Street West
Auckland 1142
New Zealand

• Once we have received the completed form we will tell you if any further information is required before we can consider the claim. You are responsible for the cost of providing this information.
• We may require that the life assured has medical examinations. We will pay for any examinations that we require.
• We will only consider the claim once we have all the required information.

3. Premiums (What You Pay)

Your premium

• Your premium depends on the life assured’s age, gender and smoking status, the benefits that you have chosen and the amount of your cover for each benefit.
• Your initial premium is shown in the schedule.
• To ensure that you remain covered, you must pay your premiums at the frequency shown in the schedule or agreed with us.
• We will not charge you any premium for a life assured for any period for which a Loan and Rent
• Assistance Benefit or a Redundancy Benefit is payable for the life assured.

Changes to your premium

Your premium will change each year on the anniversary date based on the life assured’s age, the amount of your cover for each benefit and Sovereign’s premium rates at that time.
We may also change your premium at other times.

The following are examples of when that may occur:

• To take account of changes in law;
• To allow for an unexpected and unsustainable increase in claims across all Sovereign Simple Life policies;
• To take account of a new or increased public health threat, e.g. a pandemic.
  These changes would be made for all Sovereign Simple Life policies.
• We will give you at least 30 days’ notice of any change to your premium.

4. Important Information

What forms part of the contract?

The terms of your policy are contained in:

• This policy document; and
• The schedule.

Worldwide cover

• You are covered wherever the life assured is in the world. Payments in New Zealand
• All payments by us under your policy will be made in New Zealand and in New Zealand dollars.

Keeping in contact

Each year, shortly before the anniversary date , we will send you updated information about your policy. You can contact us at any time to ask for more information.

We will send communications to you at the address shown in the schedule or a different address that you tell us. If you give us an email or other address that is capable of receiving electronic communications, we may use that address for communications to you.

It is important that you let us know if your address changes.

How to contact us

Postal address
Sovereign Assurance Company Limited
Private Bag Sovereign
Victoria Street West
Auckland 1142
New Zealand

Street address
Sovereign House
74 Taharoto Road
Takapuna
Auckland 0622
New Zealand

Email
enquire@sovereign.co.nz

Phone
0800 500 108

Web
www.sovereign.co.nz

No surrender or cash value

Your policy does not have a surrender or cash value.

Sovereign Statutory Fund

Your policy is referable to the Sovereign Statutory Fund Number 1.

Policy subject to laws of New Zealand

Your policy is governed by, and will be interpreted in accordance with, the laws of New Zealand. The New Zealand courts have exclusive jurisdiction to hear any disputes about your policy.

Complaints

If you have any complaint about your policy, you can contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ above). We will investigate any complaint. If you are not satisfied with the final outcome of our investigation, you may have the right to refer the complaint to the Insurance and Financial Service Ombudsman (IFSO).

To find out more about the IFSO, go to www.ifso.nz

The IFSO’s address and phone number is:

Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman
PO Box 10-845
Wellington
New Zealand
Phone: (04) 499 7612 or 0800 888 202

Privacy information

• Any information provided by you, the life assured or any other person in connection with your policy is collected by Sovereign and/or the seller.
• The information may be:
• Used by Sovereign to administer your policy;
• Disclosed by Sovereign to any of its reinsurers for the purpose of reinsurance arrangements;
• Disclosed by Sovereign or the seller to any person required by law;
• Used by the seller to offer or provide you or the life assured with financial adviser services;
• Used by the seller to give you or the life assured information about other products and services provided by the seller or its related companies.

The information will be held:

• By Sovereign at their address shown above and/or other premises in New Zealand occupied by Sovereign; and/or
• By the seller at their main physical address and/or other premises occupied by the seller.
  The information may be held on behalf of Sovereign and/or the seller by data storage providers, including cloud-based data storage providers, in New Zealand or elsewhere.

The seller may give your name and address to market research firms engaged by the seller or its related companies to seek feedback on products or services provided by the seller or its related companies. Sovereign and the seller will take reasonable steps to keep the information secure.

You or the life assured (as applicable) have the rights of access to and correction of personal information.

Personal information will be held only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or longer if required by law.

5. Changes You Can Make

Change of smoker status

If the life assured was a smoker at the policy start date and has not smoked for a period of 12 months or more, you can apply to have the premium reduced to that for a non-smoker. The life assured will have to complete a non-smoker declaration.

Changing the benefits

If you want to change the benefits under your policy, you should contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ above).

You can request that we reduce or remove any benefit. The reduction or removal will be effective from the next premium due date after we receive your request. We will issue an endorsement to the schedule to record the change.

You can apply for new benefits (which includes increasing existing benefits). We do not have to accept any application. If we accept your application, the new benefits will be provided under a separate Sovereign Simple Life policy with its own policy start date.

Transfer of ownership

You may transfer ownership of your policy at any time. To be valid the transfer must be on a transfer of ownership form and registered with us.

If ownership of your policy has been transferred, references in this policy document to you , your and the policy owner(s) are references to the most recent transferee(s).