DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Insurers can underwrite dirty energy with impunity
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Insurers used to get heat for underwriting fossil fuels. Membership of bodies like the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA) was supposed to mean financial groups would cease supporting oil, gas and coal, speeding the pace of decarbonisation. Similarly, five of the Lloyd’s insurance market’s managing agents – RiverStone, Chaucer, RenaissanceRe, Ascot and Aegis – have not implemented any restrictions on fossil fuels. Insurers have even fewer qualms about supporting oil and gas. Governments have made energy security a key priority since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and can reasonably argue that abrupt halts to backing fossil fuels will just mean higher energy prices.

Persons: Warren, Berkshire Hathaway, Starr don’t, – RiverStone, Chaucer, Insuramore, Pamela Barbaglia, George Hay, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Zero Insurance, Axa, Everest, Aegis, Reuters Graphics, X, Bayer, SEC, Paramount, Thomson Locations: Zurich, PICC, RenaissanceRe, Ascot, Ukraine

Thermal coal insurance rates rose more than 20% last year, it said, above the 7.3% rise in the benchmark Marsh Global Insurance Market Index. Insurance companies can be active in both primary insurance and reinsurance and have differing commitments on ESG for different parts of their business. "Establishing a mutual fund for the coal industry is a matter for the coal industry," a spokesperson for the Australian Department of Treasury said. "I'm talking about going beyond your normal UK-based markets and looking into Asia for funders and insurance cover," she added. Coal prices hit record highs in September last year as European countries scrambled to replace Russian gas, sending coal miners' profits soaring.

Persons: Philip Mostert, Seriti, Doug Gain, Gain, Ben Davis, Willis Towers Watson, Thungela, China's, Russia's, Switzerland's Chubb, Chubb, Russia's SOGAZ, Peter Bosshard, Nombasa Tsengwa, Tsengwa, Exxaro, Clara Denina, Sarah McFarlane, Nelson Banya, Elaine Hardcastle, Daniel Flynn Organizations: REUTERS, Seriti, Thungela Resources, International Energy Agency, Reuters, Marsh Global Insurance, Whitehaven Coal, Whitehaven, Allianz, Swiss, Germany's Allianz, Insuramore, Australian Department of Treasury, South, Thomson Locations: American, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, South, Ukraine, Whitehaven, Munich, Australia, Asia, Europe

China's central bank said that financial regulators would fine Ant and its subsidiaries a total of 7.12 billion yuan, require it to stop operations of its crowdfunded medical aid service Xianghubao and compensate users. Reuters reported earlier, citing sources, that Chinese authorities intended to unveil its fine on Ant as early as Friday. The sources had earlier said that the fine on Ant had been revised to at least 8 billion yuan. Reuters reported in April that Chinese regulators were considering fining Ant about 5 billion yuan, a lower sum than what they initially had in mind. Alibaba was fined a record 18 billion yuan in 2021 for antitrust violations.

Persons: China c.bank, Ant, Ping, Rukim Kuang, Jack Ma, Jeffrey Towson, Pan Gongsheng, Pan, Didi Global, Alibaba, Julie Zhu, Jane Xu, Jason Xue, Kevin Huang, Meg Shen, Twinnie Sui, Josh Ye, Ethan Wang, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Brenda Goh, David Holmes, Susan Fenton Organizations: Ant, Singapore FinTech Festival, REUTERS, Ant Group, People's Bank of China, Reuters, Ping An Bank, PICC, HK, Postal Savings Bank, Tencent Holdings, Alibaba, Hong Kong, Financial Regulatory Administration, State Council, Lens Consulting, Thomson Locations: Singapore, China, HONG KONG, Ant's, Hong, Beijing, CHINA

Reuters reported earlier, citing sources, that Chinese authorities intended to unveil its fine on Ant as early as Friday. The National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA), a new government body under the State Council, is now the primary regulator to grant Ant the license, they added. The sources had earlier said that the fine on Ant had been revised to at least 8 billion yuan. Reuters reported in April that Chinese regulators were considering fining Ant about 5 billion yuan, a lower sum than what they initially had in mind. Alibaba was fined a record 18 billion yuan in 2021 for antitrust violations.

Persons: China c.bank, Ant, Ping, Rukim Kuang, Jeffrey Towson, Jack Ma, China's, Pan Gongsheng, Pan, Didi Global, Alibaba, Julie Zhu, Jane Xu, Jason Xue, Kevin Huang, Meg Shen, Twinnie Sui, Josh Ye, Ethan Wang, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Brenda Goh, David Holmes, Susan Fenton Organizations: Ant, Singapore FinTech Festival, REUTERS, Ant Group, People's Bank of China, Reuters, Ping An Bank, PICC, HK, Postal Savings Bank, Tencent Holdings, Tenpay, Alibaba, Hong Kong, Lens Consulting, Communist Party, Financial Regulatory Administration, State Council, Thomson Locations: Singapore, China, HONG KONG, Ant's, Hong, Beijing, CHINA

☆ China's Covid wave drives up consumer interest in insurance after health system shortfalls
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

For people planning to spend more on that health category, 47% said in December they intend to spend more on health insurance. "This experience is also driving increased interest in commercial health insurance which could cover access to premium private providers," Lipson said. Anecdotes depict a public health system overwhelmed with people at the height of the wave, and long wait times for ambulances. Some of the players in China's health insurance industry include Ping An , PICC and AIA . Hospital fundingHowever, one of the barriers to improving China's public health system is its fragmented financing system, according to Qingyue Meng, executive director at Peking University's China Center for Health Development Studies.

☆ China's COVID surge hits Beijing trading floors, Shanghai finance hub
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SHANGHAI, Dec 19 (Reuters) - COVID-19 is sweeping through trading floors in Beijing and spreading fast in the financial hub of Shanghai, with illness and absence thinning already light trade and forcing regulators to cancel a weekly meeting vetting public share sales. Internal surveys by several big asset managers and banks suggest more than half of their employees in Beijing, the epicentre of the virus surge, have tested positive. Stock trading volume also eased last week. DISRUPTIONThe pandemic also has an impact on initial public offerings (IPOs), with the China Securities Regulatory Commission calling off a weekly meeting vetting them last week. To be sure, years of strict COVID rules have left a lot of businesses well placed to handle disruption.

Search resuls for: "PICC"

6 mentions found