Responsible pension saving with Pricos Defensive

Pricos Defensive enables you to save tax efficiently for your pension. In other words, saving for later also gives you the potential to earn a tidy tax break. Saving tax efficiently means you could pay up to 30% less tax on the amount you save each year. Whether you qualify for that benefit and how large it is depends on your personal situation. With Pricos Defensive, you can start putting money away from as little as 10 euros a month.

Any taxpayer under 65 who wishes to earn tax relief can set aside money for their retirement¹ by investing in our Pricos Defensive pension savings fund. If you start pension saving as soon as you start earning an income, you'll be able to save for many years and build up some savings to fall back on when you retire. However, pension saving can also offer benefits to those who have been working for a number of years.

If you've been saving for your pension with Pricos Responsible Investing, it's useful to know that you can switch to Pricos Defensive at no cost. Such a move may appeal to you if you want to reduce your exposure to the stock markets.

Pricos Defensive is a mutual fund (pension savings fund) under Belgian law that is managed by KBC Asset Management NV. It aims to achieve long-term capital growth by investing in a mix of shares and bonds. At present, there is a bias towards bonds. The assets of a pension savings fund must be allocated within certain legal limits. For instance, no more than 75% of the assets may be invested in either bonds or shares, while no more than 10% may be held in cash. In addition, no more than 20% of its assets may be denominated in a currency other than the euro. The fund has been granted a derogation to invest more than 35% of its assets in securities or money market instruments that have been issued or guaranteed by Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands or France.

Pricos Defensive is actively managed with reference to the following benchmark: 20.1% iBoxx EURO corporate ALL Maturities - Total Return Index, 46.9% JP Morgan EMU Investment Grade Government Bonds ALL Maturities - Total Return Index, 5.94% MSCI All Countries World Ex EMU - Net Return Index, 20.13% MSCI EMU - Net Return Index, 6.93% MSCI EMU SMALL CAP - Net Return Index (www.MSCI.com).
However, is not the aim of the fund to replicate the benchmark. The composition of the benchmark is taken into account when compiling the portfolio. In line with its investment policy, the fund may not invest in all the instruments included in the benchmark. When compiling the portfolio, the manager may also decide to invest in instruments that are not included in the benchmark, or indeed not to invest in instruments that are included.
Due to the responsible investing methodology, the composition of the portfolio will differ from that of the benchmark. The benchmark is also used to assess the performance of the fund. The benchmark is also used to determine the fund's risk limitation mechanism. This limits the extent to which the fund's return may deviate from the benchmark. The longterm expected tracking error for this fund is 1.5%. The tracking error measures the volatility of the fund's return relative to that of the benchmark. The higher the tracking error, the more the fund's return fluctuates relative to the benchmark. Market conditions may cause the actual tracking error to differ from the expected tracking error. 

The fund pursues responsible investing objectives based on a dualistic approach: a negative screening and a positive selection methodology. This approach will be gradually implemented in the portfolio from 2 September 2022. 

The negative screening entails that the fund may not invest in assets of issuers that are excluded based on exclusion criteria (including tobacco, gambling activities and weapons). More information on the exclusion policy can be found at www.kbcbrussels.be/investment-legal-documents > Exclusion policy for Responsible Investing funds.

The positive selection methodology is a combination of portfolio targets and supporting sustainable development. Portfolio targets are based on a reduction in greenhouse gas intensity and an improvement in ESG characteristics versus its benchmark. Supporting sustainable development is done by investing in green, social and sustainability bonds and in issuers contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

More information on the positive selection methodology and the concrete goals of the fund can be found at www.kbcbrussels.be/investment-legal-documents > Investment policy for Responsible Investing funds and in the annex to the prospectus for this fund.

More sustainability-related disclosures can be found at www.kbc.be/en/SRD.

The manager can make significant use of derivatives involving the assets of issuers that do not have a responsible character.

The minimum term is 10 years. If you start saving on or after your 55th birthday and want to benefit from a favourable tax rate, you will have to wait 10 years before dipping into your pension pot. You can always withdraw your savings earlier, but you'll be taxed at a penalty rate of 33%. The fund has no maturity date.

Pricos Defensive is a pension savings fund that currently invests more in bonds than shares. This makes any capital you've accumulated less vulnerable to fluctuations on the stock market. However, there's no minimum guaranteed return and no capital protection.

The net asset value can be found at www.beama.be (in French). You can also use our fund finder to look up the latest price and performance data.

You can benefit from tax relief of up to 30% on the amount paid in. In 2024, there are two maximum amounts, namely 1,020 euros and 1,310 euros.

If you elect to go for 1,310 euros, the tax relief is 25% of the full amount deposited.

If you continue to pay in up to the maximum of 1,020 euros, the tax relief is 30%. Remember that the tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and may change in the future. 

Each year you are sent a tax certificate specifying how much you've paid in, which you can then enter on your tax return to claim tax relief.

Started saving for your pension before your 55th birthday?
In that case, you will have to pay a one-off final tax at a favourable rate of 8% on your 60th birthday.

What happens when you turn 60?
Once the one-off final tax has been deducted, you can opt to withdraw your pension savings or keep saving until the year in which you turn 64. If you opt to keep saving, you'll continue to earn 30% tax relief each year on the deposits you make, but you won't have to pay any extra tax.

Started saving for your pension on your 55th birthday or after that?
After 10 years of the contract, you pay a one-off final tax at the favourable rate of 8%.

• You pay a 2% entry charge (0%² if you switch fully from another pension savings fund).
• You pay 1.41% in ongoing charges.
• There are no exit charges. You can withdraw your accumulated capital before the end date of the contract though you may be heavily taxed.
• You do not pay any stock market tax.

The risk  indicator is 3 on a scale of 1 (lower risk) to 7 (higher risk). The summary risk indicator is a guide to the level of risk of this product compared to other products. It shows how likely it is that the product will lose money because of movements in the markets or because we are not able to pay you. 3 reflects how sensitive the various assets in which the fund invests are to the markets. Consequently, the indicator lies between that of a typical bond fund (2) and a typical equity fund (4). This product does not include any protection from future market performance so you could lose some or all of your investment.
The risk indicator assumes you keep the product for 4 years. The actual risk can vary significantly if you cash in at an early stage and you may get back less.

Moreover, an investment in this fund involves:

• A moderate level of inflation risk: the bond component does not provide any protection against an increase in inflation.

Carefully read the Key Information Document, the fund fact sheet and the Prospectus before deciding to invest in this fund. These documents are available free of charge in Dutch and English from your KBC branch or can be downloaded from www.kbc.be/investment-legal-documents. A summary of your rights as an investor can be viewed there too (in Dutch, English, French and German).

You can submit any complaints you may have by e-mail to complaints@kbc.be, by telephone on 016 43 25 94 or by e-mail to ombudsman@ombudsfin.be.

¹ In this publication, 'pension saving’ refers to an investment in a pension savings fund.

² As an investor, you can only open one pension savings account or take out one pension savings insurance plan per taxable period. However, you can hold multiple contracts at the same time. If you already have a contract from a previous year, you can still start a new one. You’re entitled to tax relief on just one of the two (or more) contracts.