Daily Market Update - November 10, 2014

PwC: Businesses lack policies to manage overseas staff… Healthcare industry’s data privacy agenda… International insurers explore emerging market in Myanmar…

Risk Management News

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PwC: Businesses lack policies to manage overseas staff
A new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers says that overseas assignments for staff will increase by 50 per cent by 2020. However their research shows that too few are prepared for the risks that business travel poses. The Modern Mobility Report highlights a number of risks to the business when sending employees on overseas assignments of up to a year. These include sending the wrong people to the wrong places; often sending people abroad when local employees would have provided a more cost-effective and lower-risk option. The risk of losing talent when they return from overseas is also noted with companies making considerable investment in sending the employee overseas and then losing them from the business on their return by failing to have an appropriate role for them. PwC’s research also reveals that only 17 per cent of businesses said they have “robust policies, processes and controls in place to manage the tax, immigration and regulatory compliance around business travellers.”
 
Healthcare industry’s data privacy agenda
The healthcare sector is seeking to bolster its handling of patients’ personal information amid increasing risk of hacking. Regulatory requirements for the industry have increased over the years and in recent surveys patients have raised concern about the storage and transmission of their medical records. The healthcare sector is a prime target for cyber criminals as the data contains a wealth of personal information that would be invaluable for identity theft. Aetna’s chief information security officer Jim Routh told CIO Journal that while “cyber security threats change every 30 days” but the regulatory framework that the industry uses is “not designed to be responsive to changes in the threat landscape.”
 
International insurers explore emerging market in Myanmar
Changing tides in Myanmar are opening up new opportunities for international insurance companies. Earlier this year the country’s state owned Myanmar Insurance ended its 60-year monopoly to allow private insurance firms to operate in the market and around a dozen firms including some of the nation’s biggest banks have begun selling insurance products. Foreign firms are not allowed to operate locally although they are permitted to have representative offices and 14 have so far taken advantage of the new market including firms from the US, Japan and Australia.

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