ABU DHABI // Pakistani expatriates with handwritten passports have been asked to convert them into machine-readable ones before the end of the month.
Those who do not convert their passports by October could have their legal status jeopardised, said an official at the Pakistani embassy in Abu Dhabi.
Fewer than 1 per cent of Pakistanis in the country still have handwritten passports.
Handwritten passports will be invalid after September 30, meaning that legal documents and permits needed to live and work in the UAE would also become questionable, the official said, urging Pakistani expats to take the deadline seriously.
The embassy has been providing services for machine-readable passports since 2005. Regular requests for new, machine-readable passports can take more than a month, while an urgent passport can be issued in seven days for a fee of Dh300.
The Pakistani foreign office said that expats abroad who did not convert their passports would become stateless, because the government would not own or accept handwritten ones under a rule set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
The organisation had set November last year as a deadline after which computerised passports would become the universal requirement. The deadline was later extended to October 1 this year.
akhaishgi@thenational.ae
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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.