The 8th Asia Trusted Life Agents & Advisers Awards (ATLAA) concluded yesterday evening, celebrating 16 winners recognised for their outstanding contributions and performance.
With close to 2m COVID-19-positive cases in the region, insurers in South Asian markets are rising to the occasion to serve their clients by keeping offices functioning, introducing new products and promptly settling claims.
Cricket is the lifeblood for millions in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and the COVID-19 pandemic has been a dampener to both players and fans of the various teams.
WHO's declaration of the coronavirus outbreak as a global pandemic has emphasised the risks that South Korea and Japan still face from further increases in rates of infection despite having less than 100 virus-related deaths in each of the countries, said Moody's Investors Service.
IT businesses from South East Asia (SEA) lost $1.10m on-average in rising cases of data breaches in 2019. The annual study from the global cybersecurity company Kaspersky has shown that aside from the monetary aftermath, victims also confirmed losing approximately $186m on business opportunities after an unfortunate attack involving their precious data.
Growth in South Asia is estimated to have decelerated to 4.9% in 2019, substantially weaker than 7.1% in the previous year, reflecting a sharper-than expected and broad-based weakening in domestic demand, says the World Bank.
The takaful sector in Pakistan in recent years has increased its market share due to greater consumer acceptability and the entry of conventional insurers into the sector as window takaful operators, says the "Islamic Financial Services Industry Stability Report 2019" released last week by Kuala Lumpur-based Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB).
A notable spell of heavy rainfall associated with the Indian summer monsoon triggered flooding and landslides across several south Asian countries, including Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and subHimalayan India from 12-15 July, said Impact Forecasting, a catastrophe model development centre within the Aon group.
Southeast Asia, together with Africa, is expected to bear the economic brunt of rising temperatures over the next 30 years, as intensifying levels of heat stress are projected to impede worker productivity and hit export revenues, says a new report from Verisk Maplecroft.
The national pension fund could run out of money by 2058 if current financial conditions continue, two years earlier than previously projected by the government, according to a research publication.