Silver Thatch was established in 1997 to meet the requirements of the new legislation enacted by the Cayman government in 1998 that requires all employers to provide their workers with pension benefits. Today, the Silver Thatch Pension Plan is one of the largest pension plans in the Cayman Islands.

Our investment portfolios are managed by a team of 15 world-class investment managers under the direction of RBS Coutts Bank Ltd (Switzerland), care of RBS Coutts Cayman. This team includes names like Morgan Stanley, Schroder Investments, Merrill Lynch, Wellington, Alliance Bernstein, Jardine Fleming, Barclays, and Legg Mason. Individually, our fund managers offer expertise in specific markets. Together, they offer the breadth and depth of experience needed to produce winning results.

RBS Coutts Cayman has been engaged to carry out investment management services.

The Silver Thatch Pension Plan is governed by a Board of Trustees that is elected by the membership at an Annual General Meeting of the members. The role of the Trustees is to ensure the Plan is administered in accordance with applicable legislation and in the best interests of members. In carrying out its duties, the Board can – and does – appoint agents to handle various administrative, management and investment functions.

The Silver Thatch Pension Plan has demonstrated great performance. Discipline and focus have helped us produce a winning performance. Our portfolio returned 14.46% for the financial year ended June 30, 2004. That's 0.79% above our benchmark!

A. The plan and the law have taken several measures to ensure the safety and protection of your pension.
Silver Thatch is established as a trust, which is recognized as possibly the safest vehicle for providing pensions to members. The trustees who are responsible for the plan are elected by you the members and are expressly prohibited from engaging in certain activities that would expose the plan to high risk. For example, the plan is not allowed to borrow money in any form nor invest in anything other than the highest quality investments. Additionally, the plan is subject to annual audit and annual (or more frequent) review by the National Pensions Office.
Silver Thatch trustees have also chosen to work with world class service providers such as Fortis and Coutts who have had a global presence in the financial services industry for hundreds of years and who's financial rating is amongst the best in the world.

Employees will be eligible to join the Plan on the first day of their employment with an employer that participates in Silver Thatch Pensions. You need to be at least 18 years of age and under 60 years and have Caymanian or permanent residency status. Employees who meet the age requirements but who do not have Caymanian or permanent residency status – principally expatriates – will be eligible to join the Plan once they've worked in the Cayman Islands continuously for at least nine months.

Once you meet the eligibility requirements, you must join the Plan if your employer that participates in the programme.

	A defined contribution pension plan, and
	flexible savings arrangement for additional voluntary contributions (AVCs).

Under the defined Contribution pension plan, employees and their employer make contributions based on the employees' earnings These are referred to as basic contributions . Basic contributions are automatically invested in one or two of three available investment portfolios – conservative, balanced and growth based on the employee's personal profile (i.e., age, income range and marital status). Funds are shifted automatically if there is a significant change in an employee's personal profile. At retirement, the money accumulated in an employee's pension account – including investment earnings – is used to provide a retirement income.

Employees also have the option to make additional voluntary contributions or AVCs. The employer can make AVCs on the employee's behalf. AVCs are simply contributions that are over and above the required contributions made to the DC pension plan. The employer and employee each control what – if any – AVCs they make. The employee decides where the AVCs are invested. The employee can choose from five professionally managed investment portfolios.

Earnings: Earnings include any wages, salary, leave pay, fees, commissions, bonus (to the extent that it is more than 20% of the employee's basic wage or salary), and employer-paid gratuities. Earnings do not include severance payments, retirement or long service recognition payments, or health insurance premiums.

The employee and employer are required to make basic contribution s that, when combined, equal 10% of the employee's “earnings” (up to a maximum combined contribution of CI$6,000 a year).

The employer's share must equal at least 5% of the employee's earnings; however, the employer's share can be higher. If the employer contributes more than 5%, the employee's share will be reduced accordingly. (The employee cannot be asked to contribute more than 5% of earnings.)

You will need to tell the Plan's client services agent how much you earn. You will also need to calculate the contributions yourself and remit them at least three business days before the first business day of the month that immediately follows the contribution period. Keep in mind that you must pay both the employee and employer share of the contributions.

No, you are not required to contribute more than your basic contribution . However, you can decide to make additional voluntary contributions (AVCs). These are contributions over and above the required basic contributions. The employer can also make AVCs on behalf of an employee. AVCs are deposited in the employee's existing member account.

If you wish to make AVCs, please complete an Additional Voluntary Contribution Form . This form is used to:

	tell us how much you wish to contribute in AVCs,
	instruct us where to invest your AVCs, and
	move your existing AVC investments from one investment portfolio to another.

Click here to print an Additional Voluntary Contribution Form.

Once you submit your form to your employer, contributions will be deducted from your pay-cheque, usually starting with the next full pay period. If you don't tell us how to invest your AVCs, they will be invested automatically on the same basis as your basic contributions. Keep in mind that you cannot withdraw AVCs until retirement, or as otherwise permitted under pension law.

If you are self-employed

Click here to print an Additional Voluntary Contribution Form.

When you submit your completed form, please enclose a check covering your initial AVC contribution.

Your basic contributions and pension account are invested automatically in one (sometimes two) of three investment portfolios based on your personal risk profiles, specifically your age, your income range and your marital status.

You have a choice as to where your additional voluntary contributions are invested.

Additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) are contributions over and above the required basic contributions. The employer can also make AVCs on behalf of an employee. AVCs are deposited in the employee's existing member account.

You can pick from any of five professionally managed portfolios. These include the three “core” portfolios available for basic contributions (i.e., the growth , balanced , and conservative portfolios), as well as two others:

	an ultra-conservative income portfolio made up almost entirely of bonds, and
	an aggressive growth portfolio made up almost entirely of equities.

This range of investment options is designed to help you select an asset mix that suits your investment objectives and comfort level. You can invest your AVCs in more than one portfolio. You can also reallocate your AVCs at any time.

Keep in mind that you can use your AVCs to alter the overall risk-reward position of your Silver Thatch investments. This can be done by investing your AVCs to increase or decrease the overall percentage of your equity holdings.

As a member of Silver Thatch, you will get your benefits when you retire, leave the Cayman Islands or if you suffer a medical disability that prevents you from working. When you retire, you will have two options for receiving your retirement benefits: an annuity or a retirement income fund.
Please refer to the Member Handbook for more information on retiring – available online.

The normal retirement date is the first of the month on or after your 60 th birthday. However, you can retire earlier. You can retire on the first of any month on or after your 50th birthday. It is also possible to retire after your normal retirement date.
Please refer to the Member Handbook for more information on retiring – the handbook is available online.

Yes, you can retire early and receive your pension benefits.

If you want to retire early you will need to notify Saxon Administration, the Plan's client services agent, and your employer as soon as you choose a retirement date. Please refer to the Member Handbook for more information on retiring – the handbook is available online.

If you have a spouse and die before you start receiving retirement benefits, your Silver Thatch investments will be re-registered in the name of your spouse.
If you do not have a spouse , your investments can be cashed in by your personal or estate representative.

Please refer to the Member Handbook for more information on retiring – the handbook is available online.

If you stop working before your 50th birthday due to ill health, you can retire immediately. You will have the same benefit options that you would if you retired on your normal retirement date.

Please refer to the Member Handbook for more information on receiving benefits due to ill health – the handbook is available online.

If your employer switches to another registered pension plan and no longer offers Silver Thatch, you can leave your existing investments in Silver Thatch and, if you wish, make additional voluntary contributions (AVCs).

The investments you leave in Silver Thatch will, along with any future investment income, be used to provide you with an income in retirement. This income will be provided based on the retirement provisions of the Plan.

Please refer to the Member Handbook for more information on employers changing pension plans – the handbook is available online.

Your pension is actually the accumulation of "units" (also commonly referred to as "shares") in the Trust and the value of your pension is the number of units/shares you have purchased over time multiplied by the value of each unit/share. So lets say that you have 150 units and each unit is worth $1 then your pension is worth $150.00.

The value of each unit/share is calculated at the end of each month by determining what the fair value of the investments held by the plan are, and then subtracting all the expenses and liabilities to leave a 'net' value. This 'net' value is referred to as the "Net Asset Value" or NAV. The NAV is then divided by the number of units/shares previously sold to determine what each unit/share is worth.

For example, lets say that at the end of this month the administrators value each investment (the "assets") in the plan and find that it adds up to a total of $50,050,000.00. Then the plan has to pay fees and expenses of $50,000.00, which is then subtracted from the assets (first amount). This means that there would then be a 'net' $50,000,000.00 left. This is the Net Asset Value (NAV).

Now, lets assume that over the last couple of years, there have been a total of 50,000,000 units sold. So when we divide the NAV by the number of units previously sold, that would mean that each unit was worth $1 each.
So for that month, the dollar value (or market value as it shows on your statement) of your account is the number of units that you own multiplied by that unit price of $1. It also means that for the contributions that you have paid in the last month, it is going to cost you $1 to buy each unit. The plan will then buy as many units as possible with the money that you have contributed.

Your retirement savings are an important part of your future. So, it's important you know how your pension arrangement works, how your investments are doing, and what's new at Silver Thatch. That's why Silver Thatch supports ongoing communications.

Each year, you will be invited to attend an Annual General
Meeting of the Silver Thatch Pension Plan. Every member is entitled to attend the meeting and vote on the business presented. Alternatively, you can grant a
proxy to another person to attend on your behalf.

Please refer to the Member Handbook for more information on meetings and participating in how your pension plan works – the handbook is available online.