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Eco/Invest/Demography

FM Sitharaman asks banks to ensure all accounts are linked with Aadhaar by March next year

” by March 31, 2021, every account should have a PAN where needed and where applicable, and Aadhaar in every one of your accounts,” Sitharaman said while addressing the 73rd annual general meeting of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).

She said banks should discourage non-digital payments and should bank on promotion of digital payments techniques and also adopt many of the UPI driven payments.

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Still no clarity from UK to assess financial market access, says EU

With less than two months before Britain’s full access to the EU ends under post-Brexit transition arrangements on Dec. 31, London’s giant financial hub faces being largely cut off from its biggest customer.

Britain’s finance minister, Rishi Sunak, said on Monday he would not wait for Brussels to decide on UK access and would instead unilaterally allow EU financial firms to offer selected services to UK customers from January.

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Much at stake as Supreme Court weighs future of ‘Obamacare’

What’s at stake has real-world consequences for just about every American, as well as the health care industry, a major source of jobs and tax revenues. Whether the Affordable Care Act stays, goes, or is significantly changed, will affect the way life is lived in the US
The argument against the law from the Trump administration and conservative states is that the 10-year-old statute was rendered unconstitutional in its entirety when Congress dialled down to zero a penalty on those remaining uninsured.
President-elect Joe Biden would build on the ACA by improving it and adding a new public health insurance option. But party liberals want a government-run system for all Americans, including the 160 million covered through employer plans.

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 Crypto crime slows in 2020, but ‘DeFi’ hacks rise: CipherTrace report

Crypto crime hit $4.5 billion globally in 2019.
So far this year, losses from thefts and hacks, excluding misappropriation and fraud, grew to $468 million as of end-October, up 30% from $361 million for the whole of last year, the CipherTrace report said. About 20% of those hacks, or roughly $98 million, came from “decentralized finance” or DeFi, which are transactions on platforms that facilitate lending outside of banks.

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After easing of WFH rules, India Inc continues to innovate ahead

The pandemic has been the biggest disruptor of this century and this move by the government can be a gamechanger for the IT and BPO industry, positioning India as a global outsourcing hub leading to job creation beyond the metros.

The changes will enable companies to attract talent from anywhere, reduce costs of operations while also accelerate development and use of new human resources, marketing, sales, business development and other practices to ensure high productivity.

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Insurtech Coherent secures $14mn investment from Cathay Innovation and Franklin Templeton

The new funding from Cathay Innovation and Franklin Templeton provides Coherent with the ability to invest and rapidly expand its operations and capability..Coherent will add technology and actuarial talent to its growing workforce at its current offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Manila plus hire new teams in Japan, USA and Thailand. The increased reach will also extend its customer portfolio which currently covers large insurers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Mainland China, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Brazil and Myanmar.

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