In his first comments following a series of attacks on international tankers in the Arabian Sea, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan accused an “emboldened” Iran on Tuesday of threatening the freedom of international navigation.
Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, Prince Faisal said Tehran’s regional activity was growing increasingly negative.
“We already have an emboldened Iran. Iran is extremely active in the region with its negative activity whether it continues to supply the Houthis [in Yemen] or endanger shipping in the Arabian Gulf … [and] in being part of the destruction that’s happening to Lebanon’s economy,” he said.
He pointed to reports on Tuesday of the potential hijacking of an international vessel off the UAE coast.
The incident is the second disruption to commercial shipping following the drone attack on the Mercer tanker last week.
The Saudi foreign minister called for a holistic approach that would address Iran’s regional behaviour in any nuclear deal negotiations.
“We certainly support a deal with Iran as long as that deal ensures that Iran will not now or ever gain access to nuclear weapons technology. That’s the challenge,” he said.
However, Prince Faisal welcomed Iran’s integration into the region if it changes its behaviour.
“It’s not that we think Iran should forever be a pariah. We would very much welcome Iran as a productive part of region. It would be a significant contributor to regional stability, to regional economic prosperity, but that would require them engaging in the region as a state actor in a normal way.”
He called on Iran to end its support and arming of regional militias and to abandon the possibility of a weaponised nuclear programme.
“If the [nuclear deal] negotiations can achieve that … that’s a good thing,” he said.
He also spoke of Saudi Arabia's “robust engagement” with Washington on a series of issues, including nuclear negotiations with Iran and climate change.
“We have a very good engagement. There are issues, but as with any complex partnership, there are issues that we work out.”
Asked about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Abraham Accords, in which four Arab states normalised relations with Israel in 2020, Prince Faisal praised the agreements but reiterated the kingdom’s position of the necessity of resolving the Palestinian issue first.
“Peace is a strategic choice for the Arabs but we need to find a path for solving the Palestinian issue and a path to a Palestinian state because that will deliver complete normalisation for Israel in the region,” he said.
He said the Abraham Accords have “worked positively to spur engagement” in the region.
But he added that “without solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in a sustainable, long-term way, we are not going to have real sustainable security in the region".
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Soldier F
“I was in complete disgust at the fact that only one person was to be charged for Bloody Sunday.
“Somebody later said to me, 'you just watch - they'll drop the charge against him'. And sure enough, the charges against Soldier F would go on to be dropped.
“It's pretty hard to think that 50 years on, the State is still covering up for what happened on Bloody Sunday.”
Jimmy Duddy, nephew of John Johnson
About RuPay
A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank
RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards
It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.
In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments
The name blends two words rupee and payment
Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs
Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
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