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The evolution of Domestic Schemes for the new economy

spike 14 hours ago

The 2021 iteration of the Domestic Payments Jury Report shows domestic schemes morphing into new payments channels in response to the COVID-19 pandemic – and challenging our perception of what it means to be a “domestic” payment scheme.

This report solicited responses from 43 domestic payments players globally, with the majority of respondents coming from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Around the world, the report found evidence of so-called “domestic” payment schemes branching out to offer regional and international competition to international card schemes.

Russia’s MIR – long the dominant player in its home market – has now expanded

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BRC survey findings demand further reforms to interchange fees

spike 15 hours ago

The Payments Survey is an annual publication of the BRC (British Retail Consortium) measuring the sales volumes and values of different payment channels employed by retailers across the UK.

Conducted by the BRC for over twenty years, the Survey utilises an exclusive set of data from retailers to assess the changing approaches in the ways that customers choose to pay for goods.

It also provides a unique look at the cost of collection across different payment channels and provides a valuable benchmarking tool.

Values Up

Total UK retail sales rose by 2.3% in 2020 to £403 billion, from £394 billion

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Reinsurers look to be downplaying risks by up to 50%, S&P warns

spike 16 hours ago

According to the report, this scenario pointed to a material increase in the amount of capital reinsurers and insurers would need for their catastrophe exposures – which was a one-in-250 catastrophe charge based on S&P’s risk-based capital model – to the tune of US$21.7 billion aggregate for the industry. This would increase the modelled exposure to a one-in-10-year event by at least US$7.4 billion in aggregate.

“Unmodelled risks and the inherent difficulties in attributing extreme events to climate change create the risk that climate change may not be fully reflected in catastrophe modelling, particularly in the short term,” wrote Dennis

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Not enough Hong Kongers go for life insurances with protection value

spike 19 hours ago

Read next: COVID-19 deals blow to Hong Kong life insurance market in 2020

In fact, the Insurance Authority revealed that 59% opt for investment-linked policies with high savings value.

This is a stark contrast to the cheaper term life insurance. Since it does not have any savings or investment features, only 0.9% of insurance premiums paid for such products in 2019, even though investment-liked insurance is 20 times more expensive than term life insurance.

Many of those who cannot afford investment-linked policies don’t go for insurance compensation at all. Thus, the Insurance Authority report said Hong Kong faces a mortality

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