SOGELIFE launches its life insurance product for Portuguese residents

SOGELIFE is one of the leading life insurers in Luxembourg. Already present in 9 markets, the life insurance company, a subsidiary of Société Générale Assurances, is now offering Fortuna Portugal for Portuguese residents.  Thibaud Vallancien, Head of Business Development for Luxembourg, Monaco, Spain, Switzerland and Portugal, explains the launch and describes the product. 

Why offer a life insurance product for Portuguese residents?
We have strong demand from our partners, brokers and banks in Europe for products from customers living in Portugal who would like to better manage their assets and prepare for their succession. They have retained links with France or Luxembourg, for example, and are receptive to our LPS (Freedom to Provide Services) solutions. Portugal offers an attractive tax environment and has become a growth market for life insurance. Many wealthy families from all over Europe are looking for investment opportunities and alternative residence options. 
Portugal's tax and regulatory framework offers many advantages to wealthy clients considering a life insurance policy over other traditional forms of investment.

Who is this new product aimed at?
SOGELIFE Fortuna Portugal is primarily aimed at individuals or legal entities resident in Portugal who wish to take out a life insurance policy with a view to building up and passing on their assets and taking advantage of the opportunity to diversify their investments, while benefiting from the advantages of Portuguese and Luxembourg regulations.

What are the advantages of the SOGELIFE Fortuna Portugal life insurance product?
There are several advantages:
•    Payment of the premium in securities;
•    Multi-support: policyholders have access to a wide and flexible range of underlying assets: Dedicated Internal Funds with discretionary management, Specialised Insurance Funds with direct or advised management, Collective Internal Funds, External Funds and the capital-guaranteed Euro and Dollar Funds offered by SOGELIFE;
•    Multi-currency: the Luxembourg life insurance policy allows you to invest in four currencies (EUR, USD, GBP, CHF);) ;
•    Advantageous taxation of surrenders depending on the number of years the policy is held: when the amount of premiums paid during the first half of the policy's lifetime represents at least 35% of the total value of the life insurance policy, the income received will be subject to personal income tax at a rate of 28% if the surrender is made during the first 5 years, 22.4% if the surrender is made between the 5th and 8th years, or 11.2% if the surrender is made after the 8th year.
•    In the event of the death of the insured, the death benefit will not be subject to personal income tax in the hands of the beneficiaries, nor will it be subject to inheritance tax. It should also be noted that the premiums and commissions associated with the life insurance contract are excluded from Portuguese stamp duty.
•    Under certain conditions, Portuguese residents who are individuals and who have sold their property will benefit from a 28% tax exemption in Portugal if they reinvest the capital gain in a life insurance policy for a minimum of 10 years with the payment of an annual annuity of maximum 7.5% on the amount invested.

What is SOGELIFE's added value and expertise on the Portuguese market?
SOGELIFE is one of the only life insurance companies on the Portuguese market to offer a truly multi-support product that includes both Euro and Dollar Funds with guaranteed capital, FAS, FIC and FID. Our particularly competitive offers will also benefit this new clientele, who live in Portugal. 
To provide the best possible support for this wealthy clientele, we work on a self-service basis and rely on the co-construction of innovative, open-architecture solutions with trusted partners in European private banking. We also know how to adapt perfectly to our customers' local and cross-border contexts, and we can support customers whatever their international situation, when they change their tax residence, for example.