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Pandemic

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Hedge Funds remain an option for some insurers

The life/annuity segment raised its dollar exposure in hedge funds 5.8%, to $5.4 billion, and the property/casualty segment, 5.5%, to $6.6 billion.
Several qualities made hedge funds attractive to investors during the pandemic, including risk diversification and a low correlation to other asset classes. The hedge fund industry still lost approximately $44.5 billion in asset flows in 2020, according to the report, but that is nearly half the amount pulled out in 2019.

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UK COVID-19 BI claims exceed $1 Billion; About half of claims Paid

In total, 16,159 claims have been paid in full out of 37,702 claims that have been accepted by insurers for a final clearance rate of 42.86%.

Aggregate claims paid has risen by 7.9% since the last FCA report, which showed £701.4 million in claims paid. Insurers have made initial or final payments on 53.97% of BI claims that have been accepted by the carriers.
The payments are being made after the U.K. Supreme Court ruled in a BI test case in April. It found insurers are liable for the COVID-19-related business interruption claims of about 370,000 policyholders under policies written before the outbreak and never designed to cover pandemic claims.

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Global Covid-19 caseload tops 176 mn; deaths surge to more than 3.80 mn

In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 29,510,410 cases.

The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (17,452,612), France (5,803,012), Turkey (5,336,073), Russia (5,162,049), the UK (4,589,398), Italy (4,245,779), Argentina (4,145,482), Colombia (3,777,600), Spain (3,741,767), Germany (3,724,168) and Iran (3,039,432), the CSSE figures showed.

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COVID-19:Insurance protection gap reaches new high of $1.4 trillion in 2020, Swiss Re

Jérôme Haegeli, Swiss Re Group Chief Economist said “”The global pandemic has accentuated the gap between the rich and poor. It has laid bare the need for governments to focus on rebuilding and promoting social cohesion. Social equity – and at its heart, creating equal opportunities for all – will be a defining feature of a more resilient world.”

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Indian tech firms struggling with Covid-19 trauma

Indian tech firms help young workers in Covid trauma
There is a cultural hurdle companies need to cross as they help staff. Consulting a psychologist or a psychiatrist is often taboo in India so companies sometimes camouflage their support. Workers are given access to “life coaches,” not psychologists, and they’re measured on a “happiness index,” rather than an anxiety or depression scale.

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RBI to focus on growth even as inflation breaches tolerance band

The annual retail inflation rate rose 6.30 per cent year-on-year in May, up from 4.29 per cent in April and sharply above analysts’ estimate of 5.30 per cent. The wholesale price inflation rate rose 12.94 per cent, its highest in at least two decades.

“There is a broad-based increase in CPI inflation but it still is not driven by demand and that gives the RBI some leeway. They will continue to wait and watch as a rate hike is out of question for now,” the first source said.

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