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Eco/Invest/Demography

Insurers, reinsurers prepare for battle over UK COVID-19 business payments

Bars, beauty parlors, nightclubs and other small companies in January won the right to business interruption insurance payments after senior judges ruled many insurance policies should cover losses caused by lockdowns in a test case brought by Britain’s market watchdog.

But senior insurance executives said the judgment, which affects 60 insurers, has not helped to clarify whether insurers or their reinsurers — companies which provide financial protection to the industry — are on the hook for payments.

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Delhi govt directs malls, hotels, offices, restaurants to make space for electric vehicles with EV chargers

“Our vision is that by 2024, 25 per cent of new vehicles must be electric. Approximately Rs 30,000 subsidies are to be given for 2/3-wheelers while Rs 1.5 lakh for 4-wheelers. We are starting the ‘Switch Delhi’ campaign today to make people aware of clean vehicles,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Kejriwal.

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U.S. winter weather poised to exceed a record $10 billion in direct economic loss:Aon Cat Report

Steve Bowen, director and meteorologist on the Impact Forecasting team at Aon, said: “The unprecedented volume of winter weather impacts tied to the Polar Vortex across the United States in mid-February will result in a prolonged period of loss development, but will certainly end as the costliest insurance industry event for the peril on record. Despite being the coldest February for the contiguous U.S. in a generation, it marked only the 19th coldest February dating to the late 1800s. As the climate changes, such prolonged bouts of cold temperatures are likely to be less frequent, but the intensity of extreme cold events will grow more volatile. The impacts in Texas highlight the importance of infrastructure modernization and improved building code practices to better prepare for more unusual weather behavior in the future.”

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Europe’s sustainable assets surge in 2020, more to come – EFAMA

The surge in ESG assets has been driven by stimulus-driven market recovery and investors increasingly looking for resilient investments, as well as a push from governments to encourage environmentally-friendly investments.

The first part of the European Union’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) was rolled out on Wednesday, aiming to make the ESG market more standardised and transparent. read more

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Most economies won’t return to pre-Covid activity levels by 2022: Moody’s

Policy actions will continue to support economic activity and financial markets after the pandemic has eased, it added. Policymakers will continue to support economic activity long after the pandemic has faded, in some cases for years, Moody’s said.

Moody’s expects the incidence and prevalence of the pandemic to gradually decline over the course of this year, as vaccination numbers rise. In turn, this will allow governments to gradually ease lockdown measures.

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