Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

An absolute assignment is a transfer of ownership of an insurance policy from the policy owner ("Assignor") to another individual or entity ("Assignee"). With the transfer, the Assignor will lose all rights over the policy and the Assignee will become the new policy owner.

After an assignment is registered by us, all correspondence relating to the assigned policy will be sent to the Assignee and the Assignor will no longer be able to access information on the policy.

You can assign your policy by executing a deed of assignment and providing us notice of the assignment. Please click here to download the deed of assignment and notice of the assignment and click here to download the business reply envelope. To do so, both the Assignor and the Assignee must come to our Customer Care Center with your identification and other relevant documents.

If the assignment is done between spouses or parent and child, a certified true copy+ of the marriage certificate or birth certificate can be submitted to us, and the parties need not be present at our Customer Service Center.

Our office address is 1 Raffles Place #46-00 One Raffles Place Tower 1 Singapore 048616 and we are open 9.00am to 5.30pm, Mondays to Fridays (excluding Public Holidays).

1. Original policy documents
2. Assignor's NRIC/ passport
3. For an Assignee who is an individual:
   • Assignee's Singapore NRIC or passport and proof of address^#
   • Completed Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) / Common Reporting Standard (CRS) INDIVIDUAL SELF-CERTIFICATION FORM
4. For an Assignee that is an entity registered or incorporated in Singapore:

   Documents Required	Sole Proprietorship owned by an individual	Sole Proprietorship owned by an entity	Partnership	Private Limited Company	Club, Society or Association
   Certified true copy+ of: NRIC (Singaporeans and Singapore permanent residents); or passport and proof of address# (foreigners), of all authorised signatories*,directors,office bearers and beneficial owners^
   ACRA Business Profile or Certificate of Registration
   Certified copy of Constitution (signed by at least 2 directors or a director and secretary*)
   Certified copy of By-laws (signed by at least 2 office bearers entrusted with different functions, e.g. chairman and secretary*)
   Board Resolution (signed by at least 2 directors or a director and secretary*)
   Resolution or Minutes of Meeting of Management Committee authorising the assignment and appointment of authorised signatories (signed by at least 2 office bearers entrusted with different functions, e.g. chairman and secretary*)
   Certified list of office bearers or certified Minutes of Meeting reflecting list of office bearers (signed by at least 2 office bearers entrusted with different functions, e.g. chairman and secretary*)
   Certified copy of Limited Liability Partnership Agreement			(for limited liability partnership only)
   Copy of latest audited accounts
   Completed Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) / Common Reporting Standard (CRS) INDIVIDUAL SELF-CERTIFICATION FORM
   Completed Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) / Common Reporting Standard (CRS) ENTITY SELF-CERTIFICATION FORM

   • For an Assignee who is not an individual and is not one of the entities listed above, please contact us for the documentary requirements.
   • If the policy is to be held in trust, our Trust Declaration form must be completed.
5. For premium payment via GIRO (if any), a fresh GIRO application from the Assignee's account is required.
   • For premium payment where the Payor is not the Assignee, certified true copy⁺ of Payor's NRIC or passport.
6. Certified true copy⁺ of marriage or birth certificate if the assignment is done between spouses or parent and child respectively, and not witnessed by our customer service staff.

Note:

^#"Proof of address" means recent (i.e. dated not more than 3 months before the date of the Notice of Assignment) original copy or certified true copy of utility or telephone bill, statement from a Singapore bank or correspondence from a government agency.

⁺Only lawyers, notaries public, appointed representatives of our authorised distributors or our customer service staff may certify copies of required documents to be true copies.

*All signatories must be present at our office with their NRIC/Passport and the entity stamp of the Assignee to complete the assignment process.

^{^}"Beneficial owner" means the natural person who ultimately owns or controls the customer or the natural person on whose behalf business relations are established, and includes any person who exercises ultimate effective control over a legal person or legal arrangement.

Under the Insurance Act, policyowners are free to nominate beneficiaries for their insurance policies at the time of buying a policy or at any time after the policy is issued.  In essence, the nomination of a beneficiary helps to ensure that the benefits of your insurance policies are paid out to the right person, in the right amount, as instructed by the Policyholder. 

Only the policyowner of the insurance policy can make a nomination. Muslim policyowners may make either trust or revocable nomination over their life policies or accident and health insurance policies with death benefits. The insurer would be discharged from all liabilities as long as it makes payment to the beneficiary recognised under the Insurance Act, but that beneficiary may be required to hold the monies in trust for the beneficiaries recognised under Muslim law. For more information, please refer to MUIS Religious Advisory on Revocable Insurance Nomination for Muslim Policyholders.

Before making a nomination or create a trust or change or revoke them under the Insurance Act, it is important to read and understood the information provided in Your Guide to Nomination of Insurance Nominees 2015 (NOB Guide).

Please click here to download the NOB Guide, or visit LIA website at http://www.lia.org.sg.

In order to make a nomination, the following prescribed nomination form (original) needs to be completed and submitted to China Life Insurance (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. for registration. There are 6 forms prescribed under the Insurance Act, Insurance (Nomination of beneficiaries) Regulation 2009.

• Form 1 [Trust Nomination]
• Form 2 [Revocation of Trust Nomination]
• Form 3 [Appointment, or Revocation of Appointment, of Trustee of Policy Moneys]
• Form 4 [Revocable Nomination]
• Form 5 [Revocation of Revocable Nomination]
• Form 6 [Notice of Revocation of Revocable Nomination]

Note:

1. All instructions and notes stated in the nomination form must be read and understood before completing it with utmost due care.
2. Only original copies of the nomination form can be registered.
3. Any amendment needs to be countersign by the policyowner, otherwise the nomination is invalid and China Life Insurance (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. will not be bound to accept and register the nomination made using the nomination form.

Mandatory Documents to be submitted with the nomination form:

Where a Business Entity or Charitable Organisation is appointed as the beneficiary, the following documents are required to be submitted together with the nomination form:

• Copy of beneficiary’s Registration of Company (ROC) / ACRA Search / Registration of Society

Additional documents are required if you are making a trust nomination (Form 1) or appointing trustees (Form 3). The additional documents required together with the completed Form 1 or Form 3 from every nominee and trustee who is named in Form 1 or Form 3 are:

• Copy of nominee's or trustee's NRIC/passport; and
• Completed Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) / Common Reporting Standard (CRS) INDIVIDUAL SELF-CERTIFICATION FORM from each nominee and trustee. If your nominee is less than 18 years old, you (the policy owner) or the nominee's legal guardian may complete the form on behalf of the nominee; and
• If the trustee you are appointing is an entity, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) / Common Reporting Standard (CRS) ENTITY SELF-CERTIFICATION FORM must be completed.

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is a US law which requires all Financial Institutions (FIs) outside of US to pass information of account holders of US persons to the US Internal Revenue Service (US IRS). FATCA aims to deter US tax evasion through the use of foreign financial accounts. Singapore has signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with US to establish the framework for FIs to exchange the required information.

In order to comply with FATCA, China Life (Singapore) is required to gather documentation from customers who may be US persons.

For more information on FATCA, you may refer to the full detail of the regulation at the IRAS website or speak to professional tax advisor.