forlife.htm
SUPPLEMENT DATED MAY 1, 2014
TO PROSPECTUS
DATED MAY 1, 2010
WRL ForLife
Issued through
WRL Series Life Account
By
Western Reserve Life Assurance Co. of Ohio
The following information hereby supplements or amends, and to the extent is inconsistent replaces, certain information contained in your prospectus:
Range of Expenses for the Portfolios1, 2
The table below shows the lowest and highest total operating expenses charged by the portfolios during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013. Expenses of the portfolios may be higher or lower in the future. More detail concerning each portfolio’s fees and expenses is contained in the prospectus for each portfolio.
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Lowest
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Highest
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Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (total of all expenses that are deducted from portfolio assets, including management fees, 12b-1 fees, and other expenses)
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0.35%
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2.45%
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Net Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (total of all expenses that are deducted from portfolio assets, including management fees, 12b-1 fees, and other expenses, after contractual waiver of fees and expenses)3
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0.35%
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1.71%
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1 The portfolio expenses used to prepare this table were provided to Western Reserve by the funds. Western Reserve has not independently verified such information. The expenses shown are those incurred for the year ended December 31, 2013. Current or future expenses may be greater or less than those shown.
2 The table showing the range of expenses for the portfolios takes into account the expenses of several Transamerica Series Trust asset allocation portfolios and the Franklin Founding Funds Allocation VIP Fund that are each a “fund of funds.” A “fund of funds” portfolio typically allocates its assets, within predetermined percentage ranges, among certain other Fund portfolios and affiliated Fund portfolios (each such portfolio an “Acquired Fund”). Each “fund of funds” has its own set of operating expenses, as does each of the portfolios in which it invests. In determining the range of portfolio expenses, Western Reserve took into account the information received from those funds on the combined actual expenses for each “fund of funds” and for the portfolios in which it invests. The combined expense information includes the Acquired Fund (i.e., the underlying fund’s) fees and expenses for the Transamerica Series Trust asset allocation portfolios and the Franklin Founding Funds Allocation VIP Fund. See the prospectuses for the Transamerica Series Trust and the Franklin Founding Funds Allocation VIP Fund for a presentation of all applicable Acquired Fund fees and expenses.
3 The range of Net Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses takes into account contractual arrangements for 30 portfolios that require a portfolio’s investment adviser to reimburse or waive portfolio expenses until April 30, 2015.
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INVESTMENT OPTIONS:
Please note the following changes to your Transamerica Series Trust investment options:
Effective May 1, 2014:
Transamerica BlackRock Global Allocation VP was restructured from a feeder fund to a stand-alone fund. Please see the portfolio’s prospectus for a description of the investment strategies and the risks of investing in the portfolio.
Transamerica Hanlon Income VP merged into Transamerica BlackRock Tactical Allocation VP. Please see the portfolio’s prospectus for a description of the investment strategies and risks of investing in the portfolio.
Transamerica BNP Paribas Large Cap Growth VP was renamed Transamerica Torray Concentrated Growth VP and Torray LLC replaced BNP Paribas Asset Management, Inc. as sub-adviser to the portfolio.
Franklin Templeton VIP Founding Funds Allocation Fund was renamed Templeton Founding Funds Allocation VIP Fund.
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The following is added to the section of your prospectus replaces the information under the section entitled “When Insurance Coverage Takes Effect”:
For 1035 Exchanges:
Coverage may begin earlier in Section 1035 exchange situations as provided in the “Absolute Assignment to Effect Internal Revenue Code Section 1035 Exchange and Rollover” form. As provided in that form, the insurance coverage shall take effect as of the date the replaced policy is surrendered, and before delivery of the Policy, if the following conditions have been met:
The Policy has been approved for issue – even if approved other than as applied for - and accepted in writing by the proposed owner and either:
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The replaced policy has been surrendered and the surrender proceeds thereafter received by the Company are themselves sufficient to place the Policy in force; or
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2.
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If, in addition to the surrender of the replaced policy from the existing issuer, premium is paid during the proposed insured’s lifetime (either with the application for the Policy or thereafter if permitted by the Company in writing) and if such premium together with any surrender proceeds thereafter received, are sufficient to place the Policy in force.
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The following replaces the third sentence under “Assignment of the Policy”:
Unless otherwise specified by you, the assignment will then take effect on the date the assignment form is received in good order by the Company and accepted in our administrative office, unless the Policy states otherwise.
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The following replaces the section entitled “Market Timing and Disruptive Trading”:
The market timing policy and the related procedures (discussed below) do not apply to the ProFunds or Access Trust subaccounts because the corresponding portfolios are specifically designed to accommodate frequent transfer activity. If you invest in the ProFunds or Access Trust subaccounts, you should be aware that you may bear the costs and increased risks of frequent transfers discussed below.
Statement of Policy. This variable insurance Policy was not designed to facilitate frequent or large trading through transfers among the subaccounts or between the subaccounts and the fixed account by market timers or frequent or disruptive traders. (Both frequent and large transfers may be considered disruptive.)
Market timing and disruptive trading can adversely affect you, other policyowners, beneficiaries and underlying fund portfolios. The adverse effects include: (1) dilution of the interests of long-term investors in a subaccount if purchases or transfers into or out of an underlying fund portfolio are made at prices that do not reflect an accurate value for the underlying fund portfolio’s investments (some market timers attempt to do this through methods known as “time-zone arbitrage” and “liquidity arbitrage”); (2) an adverse effect on portfolio management, such as (a) impeding a portfolio manager’s ability to sustain an investment objective; (b) causing the underlying fund portfolio to maintain a higher level of cash than would otherwise be the case; or (c) causing an underlying fund portfolio to liquidate investments prematurely (or otherwise at an inopportune time) in order to pay withdrawals or transfers out of the underlying fund portfolio; and (3) increased brokerage and administrative expenses. These costs are borne by all policyowners invested in those subaccounts, not just those making the transfers.
We have developed policies and procedures with respect to market timing and disruptive trading (which vary for certain subaccounts at the request of the corresponding underlying fund portfolios) and we do not make special arrangements or grant exceptions to accommodate market timing or potentially disruptive trading. As discussed herein, we cannot detect or deter all market timing or potentially disruptive trading. Do not invest with us if you intend to conduct market timing or potentially disruptive trading or have concerns about our inability to detect or prevent any such trading.
Detection. We employ various means in an attempt to detect and deter market timing and disruptive trading. However, despite our monitoring we may not be able to detect nor halt all harmful trading. In addition, because other insurance companies (and retirement plans) with different policies and procedures may invest in the underlying fund portfolios, we cannot guarantee that all harmful trading will be detected or that an underlying fund portfolio will not suffer harm from market timing and disruptive trading among subaccounts of variable products issued by these other insurance companies or retirement plans.
Deterrence. If we determine that you or anyone acting on your behalf is engaged in market timing or disruptive trading, we may take one or more actions in an attempt to halt such trading. Your ability to make transfers is subject to modification or restriction if we determine, in our sole opinion, that your exercise of the transfer privilege may disadvantage or potentially harm the rights or interests of other policyowners (or others having an interest in the variable insurance products). As described below, restrictions may take various forms, but under our current policies and procedures will include loss of expedited transfer privileges. We consider transfers by telephone, fax, overnight mail, or the Internet to be “expedited” transfers. This means that we would accept only written transfer requests with an original signature sent to us only by U.S. mail. We may also restrict the transfer privileges of others acting on your behalf, including your registered representative or an asset allocation or investment advisory service.
We reserve the right to reject any premium payment or transfer request from any person without prior notice, if, in our judgment, (1) the premium payment or transfer, or series of premium payments or transfers, would have a negative impact on an underlying fund portfolio’s operations, or (2) if an underlying fund portfolio would reject or has rejected our purchase order or has instructed us not to allow that purchase or transfer, or (3) because of a history of market timing or disruptive trading. We may impose other restrictions on transfers, or even prohibit transfers for any policyowner who, in our view, has abused, or appears likely to abuse, the transfer privilege on a case-by-case basis. We may, at any time and without prior notice, discontinue transfer privileges, modify our procedures, impose holding period requirements or limit the number, size, frequency, manner, or timing of transfers we permit. We also reserve the right to reverse a potentially harmful transfer if an underlying fund portfolio refuses or reverses our order; in such instances some policyowners may be treated differently than others in that some transfers may be reversed and others allowed. For all of these purposes, we may aggregate two or more trades or variable insurance products that we believe are connected by policyowners or persons engaged in trading on behalf of policyowners.
In addition, transfers for multiple policies invested in the Transamerica Series Trust underlying fund portfolios which are submitted together may be disruptive at certain levels. At the present time, such aggregated transactions likely will not cause disruption if less than one million dollars total is being transferred with respect to any one underlying fund portfolio (a smaller amount may apply to smaller portfolios). Please note that transfers of less than one million dollars may be disruptive in some circumstances; we may change the maximum dollar amount of permitted transfers quickly and without notice.
Please note: If you engage a third party investment adviser for asset allocation services, then you may be subject to these transfer restrictions because of the actions of your investment adviser in providing these services.
In addition to our internal policies and procedures, we will administer your variable life policy to comply with any applicable state, federal, and other regulatory requirements concerning transfers. We reserve the right to implement, administer, and charge you for any fee or restriction, including redemption fees, imposed by any underlying fund portfolio. To the extent permitted by law, we also reserve the right to defer the transfer privilege at any time that we are unable to purchase or redeem shares of any of the underlying fund portfolios.
Under our current policies and procedures, we do not:
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impose redemption fees on transfers; or
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expressly limit the number or size of transfers in a given period except for certain subaccounts where an underlying fund portfolio has advised us to prohibit certain transfers that exceed a certain size; or
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provide a certain number of allowable transfers in a given period.
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Redemption fees, transfer limits, and other procedures or restrictions imposed by the underlying funds or our competitors may be more or less successful than ours in deterring market timing or other disruptive trading and in preventing or limiting harm from such trading.
We do not impose any prophylactic transfer restrictions. In the absence of any such restrictions (e.g., expressly limiting the number of trades within a given period or limiting trades by their size), it is possible that some level of market timing and disruptive trading will occur before we detect it and take steps to deter it.
Please note that the limits and restrictions described herein are subject to our ability to monitor transfer activity. Our ability to detect market timing or disruptive trading may be limited by operational and technological systems, as well as by our ability to predict strategies employed by policyowners (or those acting on their behalf ) to avoid detection. As a result, despite our efforts to prevent harmful trading activity among the variable investment options available under this variable insurance product, there is no assurance that we will be able to detect or deter market timing or disruptive trading by such policyowners or intermediaries acting on their behalf. Moreover, our ability to discourage and restrict market timing or disruptive trading may be limited by decisions of state regulatory bodies and court orders that we cannot predict.
Furthermore, we may revise our policies and procedures in our sole discretion at any time and without prior notice, as we deem necessary or appropriate (1) to better detect and deter harmful trading that may adversely affect other policyowners, other persons with material rights under the variable insurance products, or underlying fund shareholders generally, (2) to comply with state or federal regulatory requirements, or (3) to impose additional or alternative restrictions on policyowners engaging in market timing or disruptive trading among the investment options under the variable insurance product. In addition, we may not honor transfer requests if any variable investment option that would be affected by the transfer is unable to purchase or redeem shares of its corresponding underlying fund portfolio.
Underlying Fund Portfolio Frequent Trading Policies. The underlying fund portfolios may have adopted their own policies and procedures with respect to frequent purchases and redemptions of their respective shares. Underlying fund portfolios may, for example, assess a redemption fee (which we reserve the right to collect) on shares held for less than a certain period of time. The prospectuses for the underlying fund portfolios describe any such policies and procedures. The frequent trading policies and procedures of an underlying fund portfolio may be different, and more or less restrictive, than the frequent trading policies and procedures of other underlying fund portfolios and the policies and procedures we have adopted for our variable insurance products to discourage market timing and disruptive trading. Policyowners should be aware that we do not monitor transfer requests from policyowners or persons acting on behalf of policyowners for compliance with, nor do we apply, the frequent trading policies and procedures of the respective underlying fund portfolios that would be affected by the transfers.
Policyowners should be aware that we are required to provide to an underlying fund portfolio or its payee, promptly upon request, certain information about the trading activity of individual policyowners, and to restrict or prohibit further purchases or transfers by specific policyowners or persons acting on their behalf, if identified by an underlying fund portfolio as violating the frequent trading policies established for the underlying fund portfolio.
Omnibus Orders. Policyowners and other persons with material rights under the variable insurance products also should be aware that the purchase and redemption orders received by the underlying fund portfolios generally are “omnibus” orders from intermediaries such as retirement plans and separate accounts funding variable insurance products. The omnibus orders reflect the aggregation and netting of multiple orders from individual retirement plan participants and individual policyowners of variable insurance products. The omnibus nature of these orders may limit the underlying fund portfolios’ ability to apply their respective frequent trading policies and procedures. We cannot guarantee that the underlying fund portfolios will not be harmed by transfer activity relating to the retirement plans or other insurance companies that may invest in the underlying fund portfolios. These other insurance companies are responsible for their own policies and procedures regarding frequent transfer activity. If their policies and procedures fail to successfully discourage harmful transfer activity, it may affect other policyowners of underlying fund portfolio shares, as well as the policyowners of all of the variable annuity or life insurance policies, including ours, whose variable investment options correspond to the affected underlying fund portfolios. In addition, if an underlying fund portfolio believes that an omnibus order we submit may reflect one or more transfer requests from policyowners engaged in market timing or disruptive trading, the underlying fund portfolio may reject the entire omnibus order and thereby delay or prevent us from implementing your request.
ProFunds and Access Trust Subaccounts. Because the above restrictions do not apply to the ProFunds or Access Trust subaccounts, they may have a greater risk than others of suffering from the harmful effects of market timing and disruptive trading, as discussed above (i.e., dilution, an adverse effect on portfolio management, and increased expenses).
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The following information replaces the second paragraph under the section entitled “Legal Proceedings”:
We are currently being audited on behalf of multiple states' treasury and controllers' offices for compliance with laws and regulations concerning the identification, reporting and escheatment of unclaimed benefits or abandoned funds. The audits focus on insurance company processes and procedures for identifying unreported death claims, and their use of the Social Security Master Death File to identify deceased Policy and contract holders. In addition, we are the subject of multiple state Insurance Department inquiries and market conduct examinations with a similar focus on the handling of unreported claims and abandoned property. The audits and related examination activity have resulted in or may result in additional payments to beneficiaries, escheatment of funds deemed abandoned, administrative penalties and changes in our procedures for the identification of unreported claims and handling of escheatable property. We do not believe that any regulatory actions or agreements that have resulted from or will result from these examinations has had or will have a material adverse impact on the separate account, on TCI’s ability to perform under its principal underwriting agreement, or on our ability to meet our obligations under the Policy.
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Illustrations:
The information contained in both the explanation and "Hypothetical Illustrations" is out-of-date and should not be relied upon.
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For additional information, you may contact us at our administrative office at 1-800-851-9777, from 8:30a.m. – 7:00p.m., Eastern Time or visit our website at: www.westernreserve.com. TCI serves as the principal underwriter for the Policies. More information about TCI is available at http://www.finra.org or by calling 1-800-289-9999. You also can obtain an investor brochure from the Financial Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") describing its Public Disclosure Program.
PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT WITH YOUR MAY 1, 2010 PRODUCT PROSPECTUS