Insurers advised to ‘take advantage’ of Ebola outbreak
Experts in Nigeria have been advising insurance companies there to use the current severe outbreak of the disease to market their life insurance products. Yemi Soladoye, Technical Adviser of the Insurance Consumers Association of Nigeria says that the outbreak has highlighted the importance of life insurance and that there is an opportunity for the industry to show its importance in society and take advantage of the current situation. Other experts have said that the insurance industry is likely to have a large burden on claims from the Ebola outbreak, especially if more people are insured. While some may feel uneasy marketing their insurance products during a situation where there are multiple and ongoing deaths, in a country where insurance penetration is still relatively low, perhaps Mr Soladoye has a valid point that it is about ensuring that victims’ families are compensated. Read the full story.
Do Arctic shipping routes mean an opportunity for insurers?
As more and more goods are shipped around the world, the shipping industry is seeking quicker, more cost effective ways to do it. Finding new routes can achieve this, but the maritime industry needs to be aware of the risks of steering a different course. A new report published by Marsh, Arctic Shipping: Navigating the Risks and Opportunities, highlights the issues of the increasingly popular Arctic routes. Although it has been used by the energy sector for some time, these routes including the Northwest Passage are an unknown quantity when it comes to insurers. There simply hasn’t been enough traffic using the routes to provide enough data, plus of course the more that do use it, the higher the risk. There is also the issue of inexperienced crews using the routes. It may therefore be some time before insurers are routinely able to offer insurance for Arctic navigators.
Lessons from cyber attacks
There are almost daily reports about cyber attacks on big corporates and organizations but what can we actually learn from them? Armond Caglar is Senior Threat Specialist at TSC Advantage and he says there are four major risks that businesses need to tackle. Firstly, awareness and assessment of the risk; ensuring that every point that could be vulnerable is identified and assessed. Secondly the insider threat; Caglar says that may not be malicious intent, a single mistake could be enough to compromise a network. Next is enforcing training; there’s no point identifying risk, introducing policies and then not properly training staff to work within them. Finally, he says not to be a soft target. Every business could be a victim so a proactive approach is needed. Read the full story.
