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Tsunami Warnings: All 10 most powerful earthquakes recorded in modern history located on the Ring of Fire
The Pacific region is highly prone to powerful earthquakes and...
Deadly Flash Floods in Asia and U.S: Urgent need for early warnings
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Financial services beware, outsiders are cracking the code
Global brands from Mercedes and Amazon to IKEA and Walmart are cutting out the traditional financial middleman and plugging in software from tech startups to offer customers everything from banking and credit to insurance.
“Embedded financial services takes the cross-sell concept to new heights. It’s predicated on a deep software-based ongoing data relationship with the consumer and business,” said Matt Harris, a partner at investor Bain Capital Ventures.
“That is why this revolution is so important,” he said. “It means that all the good risk is going to go to these embedded companies that know so much about their customers and what is left over will go to banks and insurance companies.”
9/11: Specter of terrorism risk still hangs over re/insurance industry
The attacks also generated the insurance industry’s biggest-ever man-made loss — $47 billion in 2019 dollars, according to the Insurance Information Institute — and triggered changes that are still visible in the industry.
The attack affected multiple lines of business at once, creating “a shock to the system,” according to David Priebe, chairman of Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc.-owned reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter.
Before the attacks, business line exposures were managed separately, Priebe said. The lessons that Sept. 11, 2001, taught the industry about risk correlation and aggregation across lines has made the industry “a far more disciplined and resilient business,” he said in an interview.
COVID-19: further lockdowns unlikely but some winter restrictions are possible
The drop and levelling off may be due, in part, to the school summer holidays, as previously noted. The risk now is that infection rates could rise again from their already high levels due to a gradual increase in social contact, including through schools returning and possibly from more parents and other adults returning to workplaces.
From locusts to cyclones: the human cost of interlinked disasters
The huge locust swarm which hit the Horn of Africa in the Spring of 2020, and Cyclone Amphan, which struck the border region of India and Bangladesh in May that year, might not seem, on the face of it, to be connected, but a report released on Wednesday by UN University, the academic and research arm of the UN, shows that there were connected underlying causes: greenhouse gas emissions from human activity, which are affecting the environment in unpredictable ways, and a lack of sufficient disaster risk management.
Blue sky thinking: 5 things to know about air pollution
Air pollution is also harming also harms our natural environment. It decreases the oxygen supply in our oceans, makes it harder for plants to grow, and contributes to climate change.Around 90 per cent of people go through their daily lives breathing harmful polluted air, which has been described by the United Nations as the most important health issue of our time. To mark the first International Day of Clean Air for blue skies, on 7 September, UN News explains how bad it is and what is being done to tackle it.
Covid 19 Pandemic: Almost 1 in 3 affected due to work stress, ICICI Lombard survey
Sanjay Datta, Chief – Underwriting, Reinsurance & Claims, ICICI Lombard General Insurance , said, “With the transformed perception of the masses, our consumer base today looks at a health insurer not only for financial immunity during times of ill-health but we are now looked up as a partner in their holistic wellness journey. Additionally, through this survey, we observed a mindset change taking place with 47% of people and 42% of the younger age group (25-35 years) wanting to adopt a healthy lifestyle to not just get a better appearance but also feel better about themselves. Therefore keeping overall wellness as a focus, ICICI Lombard intends to act as a conduit towards a health-conscious India.”
The hybrid work revolution after Covid-19 is already transforming economies
While a more permanent transformation of working life will have painful consequences for many inner-city businesses, economists see a recalibration underway that can revitalize smaller towns and suburbs. New digital tools mean that retail and hospitality — as well as knowledge-intensive industries — are already undergoing far-reaching change.
Working from home around one day a week will boost productivity by 4.8% as the post-Covid economy takes shape, according to a recent study of more than 30,000 U.S. employees co-authored by José María Barrero of Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México and others. Much of that one-off increase is projected to come from reduced commuting time, a factor not usually captured by economists.
Modernising Fraud Risk Management: a must for Insurers in Pandemic
Equipped with subject matter expertise, technology, insight, connections, and money, these fraudsters are running mini organized crime empires across the country. With help from insiders, they have mapped the insurers to understand their SOPs, priorities, approach and risk appetite.
Indian insurance companies have also learned and devised effective fraud risk mitigation techniques aimed at controlling these leakages. They have invested in technology and embraced analytics in their fight against fraud.
Has global automobile market revived?
By market, India market showed the largest increase of 95.2 per cent year-on-year. It was followed by Russia (38.2 per cent |), the US (29.3 per cent |), China (27.5 per cent |), Europe (27.1 per cent |), Brazil (26.3 per cent |), and Mexico (18.1 per cent |). Compared to the first half of 2019 before COVID-19, India (1.5 per cent |) and Russia (6.0 per cent |) showed positive growth rate. The U.S. (1.3 per cent |) and China (1.1 per cent |) also showed similar level before COVID-19. However, Brazil (24.6 per cent |), Europe (23.0 per cent |), and Mexico (19.6 per cent |) showed relatively slow recovery.
ANALYSIS-Climate science struggles with ‘blind spots’ in developing nations
Only 35% of the authors working on the sixth assessment report – the current series that will culminate in a synthesis due to be finalized in September next year – hail from developing countries, according to a study published in the MDPI journal Climate, up from 31% for the fifth assessment report. Huq said that during his time working on the third and fourth IPCC assessment reports, published in 2001 and 2007, the number of scientists’ nationalities increased – but countries in the Global South were represented by just one or two authors.