MARKET VALUE ADJUSTMENTS (MVA)
Partial withdrawals or a full surrender during the first six Contract Years may be subject to an MVA. After the sixth Contract Year, no withdrawals, including a full surrender, are subject to an MVA. An MVA, when applied, may be positive, negative, or equal to zero. If an MVA is negative, it will decrease the withdrawal. If an MVA is positive, it will increase the withdrawal. If an MVA is equal to zero, it will have no effect on withdrawal. MVAs are in addition to any applicable CDSC.
The Contract is designed to be a long-term investment. When a Contract Owner takes a withdrawal, Nationwide may be required to liquidate interest rate sensitive fixed-income assets that it holds in order to satisfy its payment obligations under the Contract. The MVA is intended to approximate, without duplicating, Nationwide’s investment experience when it liquidates those assets. Nationwide utilizes a market value reference rate to determine this approximation. When liquidating assets, Nationwide may realize either a gain or a loss. If the market value reference rate has increased relative to the market value reference rate on the Date of Issue, the MVA will be negative. Conversely, if the market value reference rate has decreased relative to the market value reference rate on the Date of Issue, the MVA will be positive.
When an MVA is imposed, the MVA will equal the MVA Base x MVA Factor.
In the formula above, the MVA Base equals the dollar amount of the withdrawal minus the Remaining Free Withdrawal Amount. If the dollar amount of the withdrawal minus the Remaining Free Withdrawal Amount is less than or equal to zero, then an MVA is not applicable to the withdrawal.
We calculate the MVA Factor using the following formula:
MVA Factor = MVA Scaling Factor x (A – B) x N/12, where:
A = Initial Market Value Reference Rate
B = Market Value Reference Rate on the date we process the withdrawal
N = Number of whole (partial months will be rounded up to the next whole month) remaining in the MVA Period, calculated from the date that we process the withdrawal
In the formula above, the MVA Scaling Factor will be greater or less than, or equal to, 1.0. The MVA Scaling Factor is declared by Nationwide and is stated in your Contract. Within the formula, the MVA Scaling Factor serves to amplify or dampen the MVA Factor for purposes of the MVA calculation. An MVA Scaling Factor greater than 1.0 increases the magnitude of the MVA, an MVA Scaling Factor less than 1.0 dampens the magnitude of the MVA. An MVA Scaling Factor equal to 1 has no effect on the MVA.
The Market Value Reference Rate refers to the yield of the MVA Index, which is the Bloomberg U.S. Corporate Index. The Market Value Reference Rate of the MVA Index as of the Date of Issue (the Initial Market Value Reference Rate) is included in your Contract. The daily Market Value Reference Rate may be obtained thereafter by contacting the Service Center.
If the daily Market Value Reference Rate is not available on any day on which the value is needed, Nationwide will use the Market Value Reference Rate for the previous Business Day. If the MVA Index provider later publishes a yield for the MVA Index for a Business Day when the yield was not provided to Nationwide or was otherwise not available, Nationwide will recalculate the impacted transactions and Contract Values according to the yield provided to Nationwide by the MVA Index provider. This recalculation could result in changes to transactions and Contract Values that occurred when the yield was not published by the MVA Index provider.
If the Market Value Reference Rate is no longer available, or if Nationwide at its sole discretion determines that the Market Value Reference Rate is no longer appropriate for purposes of calculating the MVA, Nationwide will substitute another method for determining the MVA, subject to any required regulatory approval. Nationwide will notify the Contract Owner of any such change.
MVA Limitation for Amounts Withdrawn from the Fixed Strategy
The Contract limits the MVA amount that can apply to withdrawals from the Fixed Strategy. The MVA limitation may or may not be beneficial to the Contract Owner since it limits both positive and negative MVAs. For any MVA applicable to a withdrawal from the Fixed Strategy, the MVA amount attributable to the Fixed Strategy will never be more than (either positive or negative) the following, which is calculated immediately prior to the partial withdrawal or full surrender from the Fixed Strategy:
M x A, where