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Inflation worries continue for US Fed, no policy rate cut for sixth time
Fed Chair Jerome Powell Indeed, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said it was...
Bermuda insurer credit profiles supported by BMA regulatory reforms: Fitch
The Bermuda life insurance market has grown rapidly. Assets...
Covid vaccine shortage holds emerging markets back from global rally
“Not only do we have a much slower vaccination program across emerging markets, but worries over debt loads, external vulnerabilities, fiscal prudence, inflation and currency stability will hamper a much stronger recovery post-pandemic,” said Mohammed Elmi, a portfolio manager at Federated Hermes in London. He recommends rotating into countries and assets that benefit from U.S. growth via trade links or exports, such as Mexico.
EU publishes rules to help investors decide what’s ‘green’ and what’s not
The EU’s new rules, known as the “sustainable finance taxonomy”, are a list of economic activities and the rules they must meet to be deemed green.
Starting next year, they will decide which activities can be labelled as a sustainable investment in the EU. The Commission published climate-related criteria for green investments ranging from building renovations to the manufacture of cement, steel and batteries, reflecting draft plans previously reported by Reuters.
Health care systems still disrupted by pandemic but some recovering: WHO
“Health systems around the world are still being tested more than one year into the pandemic. Nearly all responding countries reported at least one service disruption and disruptions were reported across all health areas, demonstrating the far-reaching impact of the pandemic on health systems,” the WHO said.
Britain’s driverless car ambitions hit speed bump with insurers
Insurers are key players in the shift to automated driving, with some investing in a technology they believe will slash accidents and deaths, and save them billions in payouts.
But they are worried drivers might equate today’s lower levels of automation with fully self-driving vehicles, potentially causing more accidents in the short term and permanently damaging public confidence in the technology.
Bank of England sees potential risks from cloud data providers
Regulators globally have been tightening scrutiny of outsourced functions as they worry that core services financial firms provide to customers are vulnerable to outages at third parties.
Britain’s government is keen to promote fintech as an area of growth and hopes that nimbler regulation will enable it to steal a march over the European Union, where British financial firms now have reduced access due to Brexit.
On Monday, finance minister Rishi Sunak asked the BoE to work with the finance ministry on whether the central bank should set up a digital version of sterling to compete with cryptocurrencies, which he dubbed ‘Britcoin’.
Chinese military seen behind Japan Cyber-attacks, NHK Says
The cyber-security firm FireEye Inc., which characterizes Tick as a suspected Chinese espionage group with attacks dating to at least 2009, has seen it target hundreds of Japanese organizations. These include research institutions and government agencies, said John Hultquist, vice president of intelligence analysis at the firm.
Insurers prefer private equity investments over Hedge Funds: Goldman Sachs Survey
Private equity was the most-favored asset class for insurers seeking to increase investment returns, followed by middle market corporate loans and infrastructure debt, the survey said.
Private equity returns in the past 10 years “have been strong and have outperformed other asset classes,” Michael Siegel, global head of insurance asset management at GSA, told a media briefing, which he said helped explain consistent insurer interest in the asset class in recent years.
AXA becomes the first insurer to join Green Monday ESG Coalition
The Coalition is led by Green Monday Group, a leading green social enterprise headquartered in Hong Kong. It aims to unify businesses with concrete carbon emission reduction actions to achieve the global “Net Zero” goal.
Climate change can erase 18% of global GDP , Malaysia, Thailand, India, Philippines and Indonesia most vulnerable:Swiss Re
“Our analysis shows the benefit of investing in a net-zero economy. For example, adding just 10% to the USD 6.3 trillion of annual global infrastructure investments would limit the average temperature increase to 3/4 below 2°C. This is just a fraction of the loss in global GDP that we face if we don’t take appropriate action,“ said Jérôme Haegeli, Swiss Re’s Group Chief Economist
Tesla drives on Autopilot through a regulatory grey zone
The Texas crash follows a string of crashes involving Tesla cars being driven on Autopilot, its partially automated driving system which performs a range of functions such as helping drivers stay in lanes and steer on highways. Tesla has also rolled out what it describes as a “beta” version of its FSD system to about 2,000 customers since October, effectively allowing them to test how well it works on public roads.
Harris County police are now seeking a search warrant for the Tesla data and said witnesses told them the victims intended to test the car’s automated driving. NO REQUIREMENTS