Daily Market Update - May 20, 2015

What’s the best way to reach out to millennial customers?... MBIA shares drop as largest investor pulls out… Employees are ignoring risks of cyber threat…

Risk Management News

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What’s the best way to reach out to millennial customers?
Go where your audience is; that’s what marketers will tell you. Increasingly millennials can be found more on social media platforms and less on traditional media but that may not make them easier to reach. A new study conducted by Decode and Pegasystems found that while millennials will often happily interact with businesses and brands on social media they will only do so in certain sectors. Financials and insurance are areas where they do not. Just 8 per cent of respondents said that a tweet would influence their insurance-buying decision.
The most important thing you can do according to 46 per cent is answer email inquiries within 24 hours. Being available on the phone or in person was important for 42 per cent. The research was carried out in the UK where insurance comparison websites are well-known and used frequently so 51 per cent said it was important to find an insurer there; 48 per cent ranked online web searches as a key way to find insurers; and word of mouth recommendations from friends (27 per cent) or family (24 per cent) are also important.
 
MBIA shares drop as largest investor pulls out
Shares in reinsurance firm MBIA dropped more than 6 per cent this week as its largest investor Warburg Pincus said it was selling 27.3 million shares in a public offering. It will leave the private equity firm with 18.4 million shares. TheStreet.com says that the company is now rated as a ‘C’ with some strong points including expanding profit margins but is weak in others including unimpressive growth in net income.
 
Employees are ignoring risks of cyber threat
Cyber insurance may be slowly gaining popularity across the world but a new report says that workers need to change their habits to help businesses mitigate the risk. Blue Coat Systems’ survey of 1580 respondents in 11 countries discovered that employees frequently visit websites deemed inappropriate for the workplace despite being aware of the potential risk to the business. The poll found that 65 per cent of respondents knew that visiting certain sites or downloading applications without the IT team’s approval was a risk but 26 per cent admitted doing so. Social media sites are used by 41 per cent of workers on their business devices, opening the door to possible malware attacks using shortened links on the sites. Six per cent of respondents admitted to viewing pornography on business devices.
 

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