Unitised insurance funds or unit-linked insurance funds are a form of collective investment offered life assurance policies.[1]
An insurance company's contract may offer a choice of unit-linked funds to invest in. Insurers that offer these contracts are mainly found in the UK and British Isles offshore financial centres. All types of life assurance and insurers pension plans, both single premium and regular premium policies offer these funds. They facilitate access to wide range and types of assets for different types of investors.
The range of fund choice for investment has grown significantly in recent years with the increased trend to provide unit-linked alternatives to popular unit trust and OEIC funds styled as externally managed funds as opposed to the life assurance companies internally managed funds. Typically the externally managed fund links have higher charges; this is tolerated as the expectation is for better returns.