Category:

Reinsurance

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.

read more

UN chief: Desertification and drought destabilizing well-being of 3.2 billion people

Having contributed to the collapse of biodiversity and promoting zoonoses – diseases which jump from animals to humans
Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of the Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) called desertification “another reminder” that human health and that of the environment, are “deeply intertwined”.

Desertification and drought also increase water scarcity, at a time when two billion people still lack access to safe drinking water, said Ms. Azoulay, adding that “over three billion may have to confront a similar situation by 2050”.

read more

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.”

read more

India’s farm sector performed well despite COVID-19, says Tomar

India has launched various projects under the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture to develop, demonstrate and disseminate the techniques to make agriculture resilient to adverse impacts of climate change, union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said adding that India is promoting organic farming at a large scale.

”The agriculture sector in India performed well during the severe COVID-19 pandemic and registered an all-time high production of 305 million tonne of foodgrains as well as their exports (in 2020-21), contributing to the global food security,” he added.

read more

Sri Lanka seeks initial $40m from fire-ravaged ship’s operator

The Sri Lankan authorities and the ship’s operator say there’s still no large oil spill

The Sri Lankan navy believes the blaze was caused by the vessel’s chemical cargo, which included 25 tons of nitric acid and other chemicals, most of which was destroyed in the fire. But debris including burned fiberglass and tons of plastic pellets have already polluted nearby beaches. There are concerns that a spill of remaining chemicals and oil on the ship could devastate marine life.

read more

Ships skip Singapore as China congestion snarls supply chain

“The delays have already resulted in pressurizing soaring shipping prices within China due to a lack of containers and increased export demand,” said Josh Brazil, vice president of marketing at project44, a supply-chain intelligence firm. “These high shipping costs are just one factor that may contribute to an additional looming threat to global inflation.”

read more

G7 to counter China’s BRI with big infrastructure project: US official

According to a Refinitiv database, as of mid-last year, more than 2,600 projects at a cost of $3.7 trillion were linked to the Belt and Road Initiative, although the Chinese foreign ministry said last June that about 20% of projects had been seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In March, Biden said he had suggested to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, hosting the G7 summit, that democratic countries should develop their own rival scheme.

read more