Tesla to pay Musk $1m for lawsuit insurance policy July 1, 2020 Tesla has said it plans to bring an end to an unusual insurance arrangement with its chief executive, which safeguards its board members against lawsuits, after a final payment of $1m. Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk has been personally indemnifying the firm’s board, after he said in April that he believed insurance premiums from other [...]
Lloyd’s of London: ‘Much more’ insurers can do to help Covid-struck SMEs July 1, 2020 The insurance industry must do more to help SMEs recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and better prepare for catastrophic events in the future, according to a new report by Lloyd’s. The report outlines three possible new open-source solutions and frameworks designed to cover risks businesses could encounter in the so-called “new normal” [...]
UK to negotiate financial services trade deal with Switzerland July 1, 2020 The UK and Switzerland have pledged to negotiate a financial services trade agreement to enable cross-border market access after the Brexit transition period ends. Chancellor Rishi Sunak and his Swiss counterpart Ueli Maurer last night said they wanted to reach an agreement that would enable cross-border market access for wholesale financial services relating to insurance, [...]
DEBATE: Did Boris Johnson’s ‘Build, build, build’ speech succeed in rebooting his premiership? June 30, 2020 Did Boris Johnson’s speech succeed in rebooting his premiership? John Oxley, a Conservative commentator, says YES. Boris is back in business. He has mastered his own recovery from coronavirus and is now ready to tackle the nation’s. It is a challenge he would have never expected when he entered Downing Street, and an important evolution [...]
World reserve currencies: Is the US Dollars’ days numbered? June 30, 2020 “Every dog has its day” is an expression believed to have come from 405 BC when a Greek playwright, Euripides, was mauled and killed by a pack of dogs. An analogy to this tale could be the US Dollar. Is the end nigh? Has the mighty Greenback ‘had its day’? Having been on the boards [...]
Explanation of DeFi staking and the importance of Ethereum 2.0 June 30, 2020 The financial world is changing at a pace never before seen in history. These new instruments are being developed and made available to anyone willing to explore the space and to serve a wide variety of needs. Investment in Decentralised Finance (or DeFi) has spiked to 1.5bn USD in assets locked. These assets are in [...]
Coronavirus has reshaped urban mobility but the biggest challenge remains Climate Change June 30, 2020 The argument for small, environment-friendly personal transport has been growing stronger for some time. This was true even before the Coronavirus pandemic required us to socially distance, and the government urged us all to “consider all other forms of transport before using public transport”; thus marking a reversal of the long-standing encouragement to use trains [...]
Bank of England tells lenders to push ahead with climate risk analysis June 29, 2020 The Bank of England and UK financial regulator today told banks and insurers to press ahead with analysing the impact of climate change on their operations. The Climate Financial Risk Forum (CFRF) — established by the BoE and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last year — published a guide setting out how financial firms can analyse [...]
Indo pacific cooperation June 27, 2020 The Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, and rising inflation are challenges that affect every part of the world, demonstrating how closely we are interconnected. Global problems need international as well as local solutions, as countries work together towards common goals. This week I am visiting two of our trading allies – Indonesia and Japan –as part [...]
US jobless claims: 1.48m more file for benefits as total hits 47m June 25, 2020 More than three months into the coronavirus crisis, millions more Americans are still filing for unemployment benefits each week. According to the US labour department, 1.48m people filed claims last week, marking a slowdown from the previous week’s figure of 1.54m. Economists had predicted a bigger drop to around 1.3m. While it marks the twelfth [...]