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the Royal Cipher. Despite some reservations about specific
aspects of individual programmes, approval has not been withheld
except where the design or denomination was felt to be
inappropriate, and the general willingness to accommodate most
proposals may have been taken by the dependencies to represent
tacit approval of the entire operation. It is for consideration
that the design approval procedure could be used to limit the number of coins in future programmes, if this is an objective that is accepted.
(13) Insurance against redemption through commercial insurers. This
remains a possibility, and it could be further investigated if
desired. But preliminary enquiries were not encouraging.
Annual premiums would erode royalties, whether paid in respect
of individual territorial policies, or as contributions to some
form of central fund managed by or on behalf of the dependencies collectively or by HMG. But it would take time for the premiums
and the income on investments bought by the premiums to build up
a fund of adequate size, and meanwhile the risk would persist.
Single premium policies would be expensive; and there is no
guarantee that the insurance company would stay in business long
enough to meet a claim. Policies would not necessarily be
automatically renewable. Further, insurance would fit better
with a finite risk and is hardly compatible with a continuous
expansion of issues. Indeed the existence of insurance might of
itself encourage issuing authorities to embark on more ambitious
programmes.