0 used to describe a type of investment, usually offered in the UK by a life insurance company, in which the payments are linked to individual shares within a fund: --
Unit-linked policies are marketed as specific investment vehicles so that they are very much likened to unit trusts, and both of those will naturally have policyholder protection.
The unitised version was somewhat less opaque than the conventional version, with less surplus being held back, and also made possible switching between with-profits and unit-linked funds.
However, since the late 1970s the insurers have tried to compete directly with the unit trust market in offering a wide choice of unit-linked investment funds.
An insurance company's contract may offer a choice of unit-linked funds to invest in.
This is achieved by limiting the proportion of shares in the stakeholder unit-linked and with-profit products to 60% of the funds.
Unitised with-profits policies were introduced as a response to competition from unit-linked life policies that became available in the 1970s.
Policies are typically traditional with-profits or unit-linked (including those with unitised with-profits funds).
Societies acting as independent intermediaries which wish to offer their own investment products—that is, unit-linked personal pensions—will have to offer their products through subsidiaries.
