NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the 2008 Annual General Meeting of The Silver Thatch Pension Plan will be held at the Westin Casuarina Resort, West Bay Road, Seven Mile Beach on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 6:00p.m. In accordance with the rules of the trust, the agenda is proposed to be as follows:
• Presentation of a report from the Trustees regarding the terms and remuneration of agents of the Trustees for the preceding accounting period.
• Presentation of the financial statements of the plan for the preceding accounting period
• Consider Trustee remuneration (none proposed).
• Approve appointment of the auditors
• Appointment of the members to the board of Trustees.
• Other business.
Note: Each member entitled to attend and vote at the meeting is entitled to appoint one proxy to vote in his or her place.
September 17, 2008
Dear Silver Thatch Pensions Member,
Please find enclosed your annual pension statement.
As you may be aware, there has been some recent media attention to the volatility in the US financial markets. This letter is to reassure you that your pension fund is invested in a diversified portfolio globally and will not be significantly impacted over time. Your pension fund is invested on a long-term basis; therefore the current short-term market volatility should be of limited concern as risk is mitigated by your well-managed and diversified plan. Historically, the markets rebound and stabilize whenever fluctuations in the global markets occur.
We look forward to continuing to provide you with superior service. If you have any further inquiries please do not hesitate to contact us or visit our website at www.silverthatch.org.ky
Kind regards,
Silver Thatch Pensions Team
Enforcing the Payment Dates and Interest Penalty Provision
Dear Silver Thatch Client,
The National Pensions law states that all monthly contributions must be submitted to the plan administrator within 15 days of month end. In the event that the funds are not received by the administrator within the proscribed period then the law specifies that the employer shall be liable to pay interest on all money that is due to be paid by him at the prime rate in the Islands plus five percent, calculated on a daily basis.
While this law has been in place for many years, the interest penalty provision has not been strictly enforced. We have recently received a memo from the National Pensions Board via the Superintendent of Pensions, which instructs multi-employer pension plan administrators will be required to strictly enforcement the payment dates and interest penalty provisions of the law. The effect of this is as follows:
Effective May 1, 2008 under the requirements of the law, contributions for the month of April 2008 are to be received by the office or bank of Silver Thatch Pensions no later than May 15, 2008.
If the contribution for the month arrives after the deadline, then interest will be charged on that contribution on a daily basis from May 16, 2008 until the contribution is received at the office or bank of Silver Thatch Pensions .
Silver Thatch shall calculate all interest payable and issue an invoice that must be paid along with the following month's contributions. The contribution sheet should clearly show the interest payments separate from the normal monthly contributions.
New Forms Available to Download
Dear members,
In an effort toward streamlining our operations, through the pursuit of efficiency and environmental awareness, we have new forms available for your use that will enable us to have a paperless office. Please download the latest version of all STP forms from our website.
Note: the old forms will not be accepted by our system after April 30, 2008.
New Bank and Plan Administrator for Silver Thatch
Effective July 1st, 2007 Silver Thatch Pensions changed its bank and Plan Administrator. The new bank for the Silver Thatch Pensions is the Royal Bank of Canada and the new Plan Administrator for the plan is Close Brothers (Cayman) Ltd.
Close Brothers contact information is:
Close Brothers (Cayman) Limited
P. O. Box 1034
4th Floor, Harbour
George Town, Grand Cayman KY1-1102
Cayman Islands
Phone: 345.949.8455
Fax: 345.949.8499
Website: www.closebrothers.com.ky
Silver Thatch is pleased to announce these new appointments and is looking forward to working with the Royal Bank and Close Brothers to continue to improve member service going forward.
New Exchange Rate
Effective July 1st, 2007 Fortis resigned as both Administrator and Bank for Silver Thatch Pensions (“STP”). After reviewing proposals, the Trustees selected the Royal Bank of Canada (“RBC”) as the new bank to replace Fortis.
RBC has agreed to convert funds from KYD to USD for members at 0.8325 (as long as STP meets certain conditions). If you remit subscriptions in KYD, please use this rate on your conversions, effective immediately.
Please note future contributions calculated at the old exchange rate may be returned to your office.
Also, as the plan is operated in U.S. Dollars, all members are encouraged to remit their subscriptions in USD.
