Bahrain's first ambassador to Israel Khaled Yousef Al Jalahma handed in his letter of credence to Israeli president Isaac Herzog in a ceremony on Tuesday.
Receiving the letter of credence is an important official ceremony in which an ambassador asks the host country to accept them as a representative of their home nation.
The ceremony comes on the eve of the first anniversary of Israel signing the Abraham Accords with the UAE and Bahrain.
"What a wonderful coincidence to have this event mark the first anniversary of the Abraham Accords," Mr Al Jalahma said on Twitter.
"I’m so proud that we took this brave step last year to work hand-in-hand towards peace, security and stability in the world."
Under the Abraham Accords, which former US president Donald Trump helped mediate in August last year and signed at the White House on September 15, 2020, the UAE and Bahrain agreed to officially establish relations with Israel on condition it suspended the planned annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank and Jordan Valley.
Last November, Bahrain and Israel agreed to open embassies in their respective capitals.
Mr Al Jalahma served as the foreign ministry's director of operations before taking up the new role. He was deputy chief of mission at Bahrain’s embassy to the US from 2009 to 2013.
Israel named Itay Tagner as its charge d'affaires to Bahrain and Eitan Naeh as charge d’affaires to the UAE in January. In February, Mohamed Al Khaja was named the UAE's first ambassador to Israel.
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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.
