Across all the focus group responses, the top three major risks...
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Bridge Specialty International completes acquisition of Singapore-based Acorn International Network
Tim Coles, Chief Executive Officer of Bridge Specialty...
US sanctions Indian company for involvement in ‘Ghost Fleet’ transporting Iranian oil
Under the sanctions imposed on Gabbaro, all property and any in...
United States now averaging 100,000 new Covid-19 infections a day
The virus is spreading quickly through unvaccinated populations, especially in the Deep South. Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi have had hospitals overrun with patients.
The US first crossed the 100,000 average number in November and peaked at about 250,000 in early January before bottoming out in late June.
Cash glut at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire may trap tech titans next
With Buffett hoarding more than $100 billion of cash at Berkshire the last few years, the perception is that the investing icon has lost his touch in a technology-driven economy that would seem to be full of investment opportunities.
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.