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International News

Banks roll out robots as pandemic shakes up IT plans

Industry experts say the pandemic has focused bank executives’ minds when it comes to IT spend and more digitally savvy lenders will steal a march on competitors.

“There is a digital divide,” Jerry Silva, global banking research director at IDC said. “Sometimes I call it the predatory gap, because those banks are going to be able to steal market share from those that weren’t prepared prior to 2020.”

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Under pressure, WHO plans COVID-19 vaccine insurance scheme for poor nations

The scheme is being set up by the promoters of the COVAX vaccine facility, which is co-led by the WHO and GAVI, a global vaccine alliance, a COVAX document published on Thursday said. COVAX aims to distribute at least 2 billion effective shots around the world by the end of next year.

The scheme could foot the bill for 92 low-income countries, mostly in Africa and South-East Asia, meaning their governments would face little or no costs from claims brought by patients, should anything go unexpectedly wrong after a COVAX-distributed vaccine is administered.

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Insurtechs raise a record-breaking $ 2.5 bn in Q3 2020 globally as ‘funding gap’ widens

For the first time since Q4 2017, InsurTech start-ups based in India raised more funding rounds than those based in China.
$2.5 billion was raised by InsurTech firms across 104 deals, up 63% and 41% respectively over the prior quarter. Deals included two $500 million rounds, but the mid-tier funding gap for firms seeking investments in the $20 million to $50 million range has widened, according to the new Quarterly InsurTech Briefing from Willis Towers Watson,

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“SIRC 2020 Re-Mind”:Mumenthaler and Kessler to address the virtual event, Global-Asia Insurance Partnership to be launched

Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies and Minister for Finance, Heng Swee Keat will announce the launch of the Global-Asia Insurance Partnership (GAIP), a new global centre of excellence in risk management in Singapore that is a tripartite partnership amongst regulators, academia and industry

Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University will be the research institution partner under the GAIP, to work on studies about the future development and needs of the insurance sector. 
All insurance/reinsurance industry practitioners and media can register for the virtual event free of cost at https://sirc.6connex.com/event/SIRC2020REMIND/login

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Swiss Re joins global coalition to better predict & prevent outbreak and pandemics, to harness data and analytics

The Trinity Challenge aims to develop ideas and tools for tackling the three stages of infectious disease emergencies – identification, response and recovery.
By becoming a member of The Trinity Challenge, Swiss Re is joining leaders across the academic, non-profit and private sectors including Google, Microsoft and Facebook, GlaxoSmithKline, McKinsey & Company, the Gates Foundation, the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London.

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Peak Re raises $250 million of capital, to boost reinsurance capacity

Commenting on the transaction, Franz Josef Hahn, Chief Executive Officer of Peak Re, said, “The transaction marks a significant milestone for Peak Re. The Securities will enable the company to diversify its capital structure, and bring additional capacity to the reinsurance market from international investors. Our business has shown resilience to the current pandemic, and with the hardening of the reinsurance market, the new capital will enable Peak Re to capture the growth opportunity ahead.”

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EU warns not enough COVID vaccines for all in Europe until 2022

Given a likely limited supply, the Commission has for months urged EU governments to devise vaccination plans that would prioritise vulnerable and essential groups, such as healthcare workers, the elderly or people with chronic diseases.

But apart from a consensus on inoculating doctors and nurses, “there is no common line on other groups,” the Commission official said at the internal meeting this week.

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