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International News

270 million people face starvation, says WFP as it receives Nobel Peace Prize

“Because of so many wars, climate change, the widespread use of hunger as a political and military weapon, and a global health pandemic that makes all of that exponentially worse — 270 million people are marching toward starvation,” David Beasley said from the WFP headquarters in Rome, upon receiving the Nobel medal and diploma.

“Failure to address their needs will cause a hunger pandemic which will dwarf the impact of COVID. And if that’s not bad enough, out of that 270 million, 30 million depend on us 100% for their survival,” he added.

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UN chief warns ‘vaccine nationalism’ is moving at full speed

The UN chief on Wednesday reiterated his call for vaccines to be treated as a global public good, available to everyone, everywhere on the planet, especially in Africa. And he appealed for 4.2 billion in the next two months for the World Health Organisation’s COVAX programme, an ambitious project to buy and deliver coronavirus vaccines for the world’s poorest people.

After a virtual UN meeting with the African Union, Guterres said at a news conference that financing COVAX is the only way to guarantee vaccines will be available in Africa and other developing areas.

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Citi trial shows chain of gaffes leading to $900 million blunder

The trial is expected to shine a spotlight on one of the biggest and most embarrassing banking errors in recent memory — one that has already forced Citi to explain its mistake to federal regulators and tighten its internal controls. The case is being closely followed on Wall Street, especially in the syndicated loan industry. A trade group has argued that a win for the creditors could expose banks that facilitate wire transfers and serve as administrative agents to unnecessary risk.

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When $2 trillion falls short, the next 2020 may be uninsurable

At the core is the reality that the global non-life insurance industry’s US$2 trillion in capital won’t last in a “black swan” event, such as a cyberattack or another pandemic, that hobbles the global economy.
Insurance markets for events, travel and business interruption have all been roiled by the virus. For those looking to protect against the possibility of pandemics, most will find that firms are offering few safeguards going forward.

Allianz, Europe’s biggest insurer, said it will focus on tightening up contracts to exclude pandemics. Munich Re has stopped selling business-interruption policies that cover coronavirus losses.

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AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine 70.4% effective at preventing the infection

The Company is also making rapid progress in manufacturing with a capacity of up to 3 billion doses of the vaccine in 2021 on a rolling basis, pending regulatory approval. The vaccine can be stored, transported and handled at normal refrigerated conditions (2-8 degrees Celsius/ 36-46 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least six months and administered within existing healthcare settings.

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Reinsurers raise $ 22 billion capital in 2020,booked $20b of COVID-19 related losses:Willis Re

In the first nine months of 2020 the global (re)insurers which Willis Re  track booked $20b of COVID-19 related losses. This remains considerably below the c.$68b mid-point of top-down loss estimates for the global non-life industry. More is coming with Q4 results with, for example, Munich Re announcing on 1 December that it will book an additional c.€1.1b, said the report. 

A number of (re)insurers have included a significant Incurred But Not Reported (IBNR) component in their booked losses due to considerable uncertainty around ultimate COVID-19 losses. This uncertainty is due in part to pending legal rulings, particularly in relation to business interruption (BI) covers, which will decide if and how COVID-19 related claims should be covered.

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Cyber risk is new threat to financial stability: IMF

“Given strong financial and technological inter-connections, a successful attack on a major financial institution — or on a core system or service used by many — could quickly spread through the entire financial system, causing widespread disruption and loss of confidence.” said Jennifer Elliott and Nigel Jenkinson of IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department

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