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Covid-19 continues cause excess mortality in US and UK, says Swiss Re
Report suggests potential excess mortality in the general...
Strongest typhoon since 1949 hits Shanghai and knocks out power to some homes
Typhoon Yagi hit China’s southern Hainan island earlier this month...
Tech titans Amazon, Google, Microsoft join US cyber team to fight ransomware
The tech giants are among firms signed on to be part of a Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative intended to combine government and private skills and resources to fight hackers, according to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
“With these extraordinarily capable partners, our initial focus will be on efforts to combat ransomware and developing a planning framework to coordinate incidents affecting cloud service providers,” said CISA director Jen Easterly.
Moody’s to acquire risk modelling firm RMS for $2 billion
The acquisition will immediately increase Moody’s insurance data and analytics business to nearly $500 million in revenue and will accelerate the development of the company’s global integrated risk capabilities to address the next generation of risk assessment.
With over 400 risk models covering 120 countries, RMS is the world’s leading provider of climate and natural disaster risk modeling serving the global property and casualty (P&C) insurance and reinsurance industries.
COVID-19 Pandemic:UK govt partners with Lloyd’s to launch $1 Billion reinsurance scheme to cover music festivals
The insurance will be available from Lloyd’s of London syndicates including Beazley, Hiscox and Munich Re, with the government acting as a reinsurer.
“With this new insurance scheme, everything from live music in Margate to business events in Birmingham can go ahead with confidence,” British finance minister Rishi Sunak said.
Africa Specialty risks launches Bermuda reinsurer
Mikir Shah, CEO at ASR, commented: “Launching our reinsurer in Bermuda is another big step for Africa Specialty Risks as we continue to build a comprehensive offering of specialty reinsurance products and services for the African markets and beyond
No work, no food: Pandemic deepens global hunger
The World Food Program sounded the alarm further last week in a joint report with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, warning that “conflict, the economic repercussions of Covid-19 and the climate crisis are expected to drive higher levels of acute food insecurity in 23 hunger hot spots over the next four months,” mostly in Africa but also Central America, Afghanistan and North Korea.
Beazley launches life sciences offering in Asia Pacific
Prashansa Daga, Healthcare Underwriter said: “The life sciences sector across Asia has been growing significantly in recent years and has already overtaken EU in terms of size*. Asia Pacific is now the second largest market in terms of size after the US. Covid-19 has also exposed the need for self-reliance amongst different countries in the region as we saw closing of borders, restriction on movement of pharmaceutical ingredients and the global vaccine scramble. The response to Covid-19 has also fuelled a race to create tests, vaccines and treatments. As an industry driven by intrinsic innovation and inelastic demand for patient needs, life sciences is expected to see significant growth in years to come. Our policy provides clear, broad and flexible cover for a range of risks to help this diverse sector to manage its risk exposures and continue to expand and thrive.”
Delta variant now reported in 135 countries, global coronavirus cases could exceed 200 million by next week: WHO
The global number of new cases has been increasing for more than a month, with over 4 million cases reported in the past week – July 26 to August 1, the update said.
“This increasing trend is largely attributed to substantial increases in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Pacific Regions which reported 37 percent and 33 percent increases respectively as compared to the previous week, while the South-East Asia Region reported a 9 percent increase,” it said.
IMF OKs big increase in funds to alleviate pandemic impact
The general allocation of SDRs will become effective on Aug. 23. The IMF said that the new reserves will be credited to IMF member countries in proportion to their existing quotas with the agency. About USD275 billion of the new allocation will go to the world’s poorer countries.
Willis Towers mulls sale of reinsurance unit after halting merger
Reports this week suggested Gallagher was close to clinching a deal for Willis Re, but Willis Towers Watson Chief Executive Officer John Haley said he is considering wider possibilities.
“We’re conducting a review of strategic alternatives for Willis Re,” Haley told a conference call on Tuesday reporting on second-quarter results. While the timing was “appropriate” given the failed merger, he warned that a sale was not assured.
WHO calls for moratorium on booster COVID-19 vaccine shots until end of Sep
A small group of nations, including some in Europe, are planning additional shots for the fully inoculated even as the COVID-19 continues to infect and kill at alarming rates across the Global South, where vaccination levels remain “catastrophically low,” The Washington Post reported.
The report stated that the decision by wealthy countries to give booster shots to their own people rather than donating those doses to poorer countries is controversial. Health experts have called this move immoral.