Year: 2021

Fubon Life is leading the race in insurance services

Posted on by itsupport

In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic spreading globally, the effects of which have drastically changed people’s lifestyles, Fubon Life Insurance actually grew against the headwind of 2020. Not only did its total assets exceed the NT$5trn (£128bn) mark, but the annual after-tax net profit also reached NT$61.04bn (£1.5bn), marking a substantial increase of 130 percent over the same period in 2019. Its overall premium income also exceeded NT$540bn (£13.9bn), making it a leading brand in the Taiwan insurance market. With the support from policyholders, and the trust and affirmation of investors, Fubon Life adheres to the strategy of flexible product portfolio and diversified distribution channels. It promotes insurance protection, continuous evolution, pursues excellence and practises the vision of enriching people’s lives with positive energy.

Benson Chen, President of Fubon Life, said that after experiencing the challenges surrounding an ageing society, the transformation of insurance products and the COVID-19 pandemic, insurance has become a substantial foundation for Taiwanese people’s health and medical protection and retirement life. This year marks the 60th anniversary of Fubon Financial Holdings and, as a subsidiary, Fubon Life aims to continue leveraging the value of insurance protection, provide services through the integration of resources with its ‘Five Ring Strategy,’ and fully implement the three pillar principles of ‘abiding by the law,’ ‘treating customers fairly’ and ‘implementing ESG.’

These principles are shaped within the culture of the company for continued growth of the company. Fubon Life demonstrates the far-reaching influence of the people’s brand, and at the same time, through a stable layout strategy, deepens the operation of overseas markets, and strides forward to the goal of becoming a first-class financial institution in Asia.

 

Promoting business development
Despite the severe impact on the business environment, Fubon Life maintained a stable level of tied agent manpower in 2020. There are nearly 500 agencies in Taiwan, serving more than 4.81 million policyholders nationwide, and this year Fubon Life expects to recruit 6,000 new tied agents. To encourage young people and those who are interested in joining the life insurance business, Fubon Life has the advantage of cross-selling resources, and has established a customer development process with financial holding characteristics, and built a digital event management platform, ‘FBFLi System,’ to enable tied agents to maintain a stable and interactive relationship with customers and keep track of the volume of activity over time.

In addition, Fubon Life also continues to promote the insurance policy review service, scientifically analyses the protection gap through the policy review system to help the policyholders improve the protection plan, and effectively increase production capacity and retention rate while improving the service capacity of the tied agents.

With the rise of the digital environment, Fubon Life has fully integrated online and offline insurance application service to strengthen the digital business momentum and break the boundary between virtual and physical channels. After implementing a long period of effective promotional strategy, Fubon Life has successfully gained the number one market share in 2020. This year, the company will focus on the promotion of protection-oriented insurance products and introduce simple and easy-to-understand products that can be applied for online, such as short-term life insurance, to meet the consumption characteristics of online users and help customers quickly construct basic protection.

 

Preparing for retirement
Facing the super-aged society in 2025, Fubon Life has launched the ‘Four Accounts of Retirement’ insurance protection project that covers medical care, long-term care, pension, and liability protection. It will also cooperate with the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to launch the retirement preparation platform in July this year and continue to raise public awareness for retirement preparation. In addition to medical and health insurance, long-term care insurance and quasi-long-term care insurance, Fubon Life also actively develops retirement-related insurance products to meet the needs of local citizens.

On the other hand, public awareness of health protection has risen significantly due to the pandemic. The market for Fubon Life’s spillover policy is dominated by young people under the age of 35 in 2020, and there are more female policyholders than male policyholders. This shows that the younger generation is gradually accepting the concept of buying insurance for the promotion of good health.

Fubon Life also launched the market’s first diabetes spillover insurance policy, which is the industry’s best-selling diabetes insurance policy. It provides options for people with diabetes who were not easily covered by medical insurance in the past. This year there is also a focus on specific health issues to design and launch insurance products that meet the needs of the public. The policy design encourages policyholders to develop health management habits to achieve the substantial effect of disease prevention.

 

A people-oriented service
Fubon Financial Holdings’ core corporate values are ‘integrity, sincerity, professionalism and innovation.’ With ‘integrity’ as the top priority, Fubon Life believes that it is necessary to implement the principle of fair hospitality and internalise the concept into its corporate culture. Only when corporate culture takes shape can all employees share common beliefs and behaviours. These principles should be implemented from top to bottom to directly serve the company’s internal operations and external interaction with customers.

Caring for disadvantaged groups and striving to promote inclusive finance, Fubon Life gives full play to its functions and values, fully responding to government policies, and providing basic protection for the economically disadvantaged population through the design and promotion of micro-insurance products. The number of people benefitting from these products in 2020 has reached nearly 25,000. For senior citizens and people with limited mobility, Fubon Life has set up a toll-free service hotline at its 24/7 customer service centre, which is dedicated to serving people over 65 years of age. The process is never rushed and time is taken to explain the services in full and all policy-related services are also provided in dialects according to language preference.

 

Improving service accessibility
Fubon Life continues to cooperate with the Life Insurance Association to promote the ‘Insurance Blockchain Alliance Technology Application Sharing Platform.’ It also uses the policyholders’ usage scenarios as the basis for the application of insurance technology. Fubon Life chooses technology with a lower usage threshold to provide easy accessibility to policyholders of all ages. For example, policyholders can use LINE Pay, a social platform with a high penetration rate, to pay the premium or access related security services through mobile phone number MID authentication. They can also walk into convenience stores (such as FamilyMart and HiLife) to complete the verification and certification process of automatic premium payment deduction from the bank account.

Policyholders who live overseas or in remote areas can complete the claim application through the live broadcast feature of their mobile phones. The policyholders can receive the insurance benefit as soon as the same day of application. The use of Insurtech has also played a key role during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fubon Life has launched the ‘Health Checkup Alternative Programme’ with the video survival survey service. During the pandemic prevention period, policyholders do not need to go to a medical institution for a health check and can apply to conduct an assessment through video conferencing to reduce the need to visit a medical institution and in turn reduce the risk of infection.

 

ESG leads the way
An important policy of Fubon Life’s sustainable operation is ESG. In the promotion of green finance, through the four low-carbon strategies of green procurement, friendly workplaces, paperless services, and environmental protection, Fubon Life will work with policyholders to fully implement green actions from within the company. In addition, in terms of green investment, the company will make every effort to support and invest in the 5+2 industrial transformation plan and public construction projects. In 2020, Fubon Life invested more than NT$500bn (£12.8bn) in total to demonstrate corporate influence and focus on the sustainable development of Taiwan’s society.

The 5+2 industrial transformation plan includes industries such as smart machinery, Asian Silicon Valley (IOT), green energy, biomedical, national defence, new agriculture and the circular economy.

In terms of social care, Fubon Life continues to care for the elderly with dementia, and received responses from five counties and cities to join and support the service of giving free bracelets after confirming the diagnosis of dementia. With the cooperation of more than 100 hospitals in Taiwan, the chances of finding lost patients with dementia were significantly increased. This year, the ‘Smart Search Project’ will be promoted to make good use of technology to present humanised and localised care services.

In addition, Fubon Life also strongly supports Taiwan’s four major marathons and inter-departmental college basketball tournaments. The UBA tournament that Fubon Life has sponsored for five consecutive years has become the most popular college sports event in Taiwan. By supporting sports events, the firm intends to promote active lifestyles and strengthen public health awareness.

Fubon Life Insurance’s services have been recognised by professional institutions at home and abroad. It has won the title of ‘Taiwan’s Best Insurance Company’ by World Finance nine times and is awarded the number one insurance brand among the top 100 insurance brands worldwide by Brand Finance. Fubon Life has also won the ‘Insurance Quality Award’ in the categories of highest reputation, best insurance agent, best claims service, and the most recommended, for four consecutive years. Fubon Life has also been selected as the most aspiring employer for finance and insurance major graduates for 11 consecutive years, which demonstrates that Fubon Life’s efforts in sustainable operations and professional insurance services have captured the imagination of the public who the company proudly continue to serve.

Trading forex as a side-hustle

Posted on by itsupport

Forex trading is suitable for anyone, in any job, who wants to get a side-hustle income: with forex markets open 24 hours a day and five days a week, this gives considerable flexibility to trade in term of time and place.

There are over $5trn-worth of transactions every day in forex market, with traders able to trade various currencies pairs to get profit. These numbers are enough to keep forex trading around for a long time. The automated forex trading process has been increasing rapidly, and the ‘side-hustle’ trader is also benefited from this. They can use automated robot trading to overcome the handicap of limited time to execute and manage trades.

The forex market’s high liquidity makes trading potentially highly lucrative for anyone who wants to earn extra money outside their main job. The opportunity to make money is also greatly helped by the leverage forex brokers can offer: with leverage, people can trade amounts that they wouldn’t normally be able to afford. For example, to trade one lot EUR/USD without leverage needs around $100,000: with leverage of 1:1000, a trader can trade one lot EURUSD with only $100, or 1/1000th of the original margin requirement.

Modern technology enables trader to spend less time in the market and makes it easy for traders to make trading a side income. The use of expert advisors is becoming increasingly common for traders to manage positions and even execute trades. In addition, FirewoodFX also provides a ForexCopy feature, where clients can get additional income by following the accounts of more experienced traders. But just one hour a day is enough for analysing, executing and monitoring one’s portfolio.

Of course, basic financial literacy is needed before someone decides to start trading. Financial literacy is the ability to understand and effectively use financial skills including personal financial management, budgeting, and investing. But with a very low minimum requirement to start trading forex ($10 minimum deposit in FirewoodFX), a trader can sharpen their trading skills with limited risk. It is also possible to gain experience by trading in a demo account provided by FirewoodFX, with zero risk.

Nowadays, it’s not hard to get a good education in Forex trading, the resources can be found offline and online, free or paid. But avoid the mentor or firm that promises unrealistic returns: it’s 100 percent fraud, as the forex market necessarily involves risks.

The next step, after acquiring the basic knowledge about forex trading, is to practise and practise at it until you get a trading edge. Do not be afraid to make mistakes, as mistakes mean experience. To minimise the risk while practising, traders can start small. To support beginners, FirewoodFX provides micro-accounts with initial capital starting at $10, and a minimum trading volume of 0.01 micro-lots (100) to minimise the risk for beginner traders while they practise their skills. With the right education and training tools, it may take more time and effort, but it is very possible that a part-time trader can eventually be as successful as a full-time trader.

As they become more expert and confident, traders can move up at FirewoodFX from a Micro account to a Standard or Premium account, which both have more competitive contract specifications. For those who don’t have time or do not like trading activity but want to have an income from forex, we have something called ForexCopy (https://www.firewoodfx.com/forexcopy), where clients can choose to follow experienced traders and copy trades from them.

We provide various type of accounts to suit active traders as well as investors who want to have a side-income from forex. We also provide mobile trading platforms (Android and iOS) to make it easier for clients to monitor and execute trades whenever and wherever they want. And we offer a 20 percent deposit and trading reward bonus: https://www.firewoodfx.com/deposit-bonus-promotion, and https://www.firewoodfx.com/usd-5000-trading-reward-bonus-promotion

Because of the limited time they have to devote to trading, as full-time workers in other jobs, most side-hustler traders use a swing or positioning size trading strategy which will need days or longer to finish. But today most retail traders are considered side-hustle traders.

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen the volatility in markets increasing. For example, gold prices slumped sharply on the news of breakthroughs in the development of COVID-19 vaccines in November last year, after increasing about 28 percent from the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020. This volatility can be good for traders, include the side-hustlers, as profit can only be gained from moving prices.

However, the market’s volatility is not the main factor, it is only an external factor. To be a successful trader, one should trade with an edge, and master the psychology of market and money management.

Banco Popular ‘will continue to bet on a greater digitisation of our clients’

Posted on by World Finance

Francisco Ramirez, Executive Vice President of Personal Business and Branches for Banco Popular Dominicano, explains how the bank’s commitment to digital technologies helped it meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Francisco Ramirez: Since the establishment of Banco Popular Dominicano more than five decades ago, innovation has been a fundamental pillar that characterises our service and growth strategy. New technologies have enabled us to continue developing new business models, products, and services, that allow us to excel in our customer experience, making us a reference for financial innovation in the region.

In order to accelerate our digital transformation process, we have adopted the AGILE methodology, which allows us to constantly launch new innovations. In recent months, we have introduced a series of digital solutions that together with previously existing digital functionality help us maintain our leadership status in the market.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges to all the productive and social sectors of the Dominican Republic – and the rest of the world. And this has propagated into changes in consumer behaviour. It has been a period of great learning and growth, where Banco Popular had the opportunity to reinvent itself, and support its clients with the launch of multiple digital functionalities that facilitate their interactions with the institution.

During 2020, we saw an accelerated adoption to digital banking services by our clients, where digital transactions reached 87 percent of the total operations performed by the bank.

For example, our Popular App has increased its relevance and usage every year compared to the rest of the channels. In 2020, transactions increased by 34 percent. This demonstrates clients’ trust in our technological infrastructure and the digital migration resulting from the effects of the pandemic.

At Banco Popular we believe that the digital migration process will continue as more clients experience the benefits of digital banking. For this reason, we are constantly communicating digital banking benefits through educational videos and advice from our executives, showing clients how they can save time when using digital solutions.

However, clients who continue to prefer personalised assistance have access to all of our traditional channels to perform their operations, where we are constantly making improvements to maximise the service experience.

For example, guided by innovation, one of our core values, we invest efforts to increase the scope of robotic process automation. Thanks to the robotisation of tasks, we increased our operational efficiency. In 2020, we identified and robotised 19 high-volume macro operational processes, which has an impact of improving the quality of the service offered to our customers.

We want to help our clients prosper in the digital world. That is why we have a strong commitment to online security. We work so that our clients can carry out operations digitally with total security, providing them with a 24/7 service, thanks to a powerful technological infrastructure.

During 2020, we continued to strengthen our information security and cyber security programme, incorporating the requirements of the Cyber and Information Security Regulation of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic and adapting it to best practices.

At Banco Popular we will continue to innovate and provide our clients with new solutions that can satisfy their needs and make their experience more pleasant. This is why we believe in the importance of listening to customers and co-creating with them. We have always started the innovations that digital transformation requires by understanding what our clients need.

Banco Popular will continue to bet on a greater digitisation of our clients, the automation of processes, and the continuous improvement of the service experience for Dominicans.

Will commodities be the best investment of 2021?

Posted on by itsupport

The geopolitical events of the last year seem to have been the perfect storm in the commodity complex. Whether it was COVID-19 lockdowns disrupting supply chains and causing bottlenecks in everything from semiconductors to transportation upon reopening, or the enormous amounts of coordinated monetary and fiscal stimulus stoking inflation fears, has this confluence of events led to a situation where commodities are ripe to outperform all else? In other words, have we entered a commodity supercycle?

At HYCM, we’ve been working tirelessly throughout the pandemic to ensure that our clients have all the information they require at their disposal. Our goal is to distil what the big conversations are so that our clients can update their outlook on the markets in this fast-paced and volatile environment that appears to be the ‘new normal’. Our aim is to update our traders on what is shifting in the world of finance, as well as providing the means for them to take a position in relevant markets with the award-winning trading conditions and support that we offer. For example, we’ve prepared an update for our Middle-Eastern clients – for whom commodities make up a significant portion of their portfolio – regarding where copper, crude oil, and gold find themselves in the broader macro picture.

 

Copper
What’s most interesting about narrative-driven commodities like copper, is that they have already benefited from all of the above, but are also receiving a bid as it dawns on investors just what an enormous undertaking the green revolution will be, and how costly in terms of the commodities required to make it.

Copper is definitely one of these commodities, as it will not only be the cornerstone of the new electric grids but is also heavily used in all green energy technologies, from wind and solar to geothermal and hydroelectric. Copper wire demand is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of five percent by 2025 according to MarketInsights’ reports.

Copper has been one of the biggest commodity success stories of the past year or so, having gone on a staggering 144 percent run from trough to peak since April 2020. It set a higher low at $4.48 at the end of May and is now heading back up to test the highs at 4.80. If copper price manages to breach this level and stay above it in the coming weeks, it could be an indication of another move higher.

 

Crude Oil
Oil, which was hit hardest last year, is now trading at levels we last saw in April 2019 and January 2020, before markets crashed due to the pandemic. Technically, it appears as though it wants to move higher, but there’s been a certain amount of hesitation in this specific commodity market due to fears of an Iran nuclear deal with the new Biden administration and what that would mean for oil supply.

The concerns involve whether Iranian oil would have a detrimental effect on the price were it to start flooding onto a market that Iran had previously been prevented from participating in. $66.30 appears to have been an important line of support that had been tested and retested throughout March and May. The price finally broke through this level on May 27 to close at $66.94 on the day. Were it to continue pushing higher, the next lines of resistance are likely to be found between $72 and $77, which were the yearly high watermark levels for 2018.

There are a number of factors that can support oil prices at these levels. Namely, a global economy that’s yet to get back up to full speed owing to disparities in vaccine roll-outs across different geographical regions. This story is playing out across both the developed and developing world, with both Europe and India emerging from lockdowns.

India, a massive crude oil consumer, normally accounts for around 6% of global demand, saw its coronavirus cases and deaths reaching record highs in May. Since these peaks, both metrics have been dropping precipitously as vaccines are distributed and life gradually returns to normal. In the short term, India’s diesel consumption alone is reason enough to be bullish on oil. But looking further out, we see a demographics story unfolding here that’s hard to overlook. A young population of 1.4 billion people with a growth rate that puts Europe to shame, and a demand for energy that’s only going in one direction.

If the path of other developing nations like China has been anything to go by, then it’s likely that India too will prioritise growth first and worry about carbon emissions later, which is to say that demand for crude is only going to increase from here on. One thing is certain; OPEC has been excellent in managing oil prices over the last year. Saudi Arabia has at times taken voluntary deeper production cuts and that has undoubtedly helped oil producers everywhere. It has been a masterly response to a difficult crisis and at this time the oil markets are feeling confident in OPEC’s arms. Even if Iran’s supply does come back online, ING analysts are confident that the rising demand will be more than enough to keep oil prices from falling. As things stand, the Middle East region can look forward to higher oil prices this year and into next.

 

Gold
Gold set its current all-time high on August 10th of 2020 when it touched $2,075 after rallying by more than 14 percent from mid-July. It then sold off in September after hovering around the $1960 level. In November and December 2020, it attempted to reclaim those highs but was rejected from that same $1,960 level on both occasions. After the first attempt to break $1,960, the price dipped as low as $1,765, which was notable because it was the first daily close the precious metal had made below the 200-day moving average since March 2020.

A combination of factors, including a roaring cryptocurrency market and equities back above their former pre-pandemic highs, have led to a scenario where, despite bounce attempts like the retest of $1,960 in January of this year, capital has left the gold market in search of higher returns elsewhere.

Throughout 2021, it has continued to set a series of lower-highs, bottoming out in early March at around $1677 and then retesting this level again later in the month. It is currently staging a bounce from that level and has recently breached the 200-day moving average to the upside. At the time of writing, gold is trading at around $1,905, which is significant because these price levels are very close to gold’s previous all-time high of $1,920 back in 2011.

If you’ve been following the discussions around gold this year, you’ll be aware that crypto in general, and bitcoin specifically, have taken large bites out of gold’s market cap. The past nine months have seen crypto assets soaring in value, with the entire market making echoes of the speculative mania of 2017.

Why is this important for gold? Because now it appears as though the cycle is reversing. Bitcoin’s bull market started when gold’s topped out. Gold has been consolidating the entire time crypto assets have been rallying. It now looks as though bitcoin may have hit a top at $65k as gold attempts to stage a comeback. If bitcoin continues to sell off, you have to expect that some of that capital will flow back into gold. However, the crucial aspect to be aware of with gold is the level of real yields. If real yields keep falling then ultimately that, not Bitcoin prices, should support prices,

Technically, the picture couldn’t be worse for bitcoin or better for gold right now. Bitcoin recently dipped below its 20-week moving average (a typical sign of the end of its bull cycle) and hasn’t looked back, settling lower-low after lower-low. Meanwhile, gold appears to have completed a lengthy consolidation phase from August to April and is back above the 200-day moving average that it failed to hold in January. Look to a successful hold of that moving average as support before the entire market catches on that it’s gold’s turn in the spotlight.

In Dubai sales of gold jewellery have been up 17 percent on last year according to data released by the World Gold Council. If we see inflation concerns rise in the US, but the Federal Reserve keeps on refusing to raise interest rates until 2024, then this demand for gold could grow even further. Gold is a key commodity to watch for sure.

At HYCM, gold remains one of the top traded instruments, making up 31.48 percent of all trades* in May 2021. The other top instruments are US100, EURUSD, GBPUSD and USOIL. In general, HYCM offers highly competitive spreads for more than 300 instruments, including forex, stocks, indices, commodities, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies.**

HYCM is a global company with offices in Dubai, London, Hong Kong, and Cyprus. Regulated in each jurisdiction by the relevant authority, HYCM has a long-standing history and reputation in the Middle East, as well as other regions. HYCM has been the recipient of over 20 awards including Best Forex Broker in the UAE, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. Traders can attend HYCM’s weekly online webinars and workshops, available to anyone looking to level up their trading, and traders in the Middle Eastern region can also participate in HYCM’s exclusive in-person seminars, typically held in one of Dubai’s breathtaking hotels.

 

*For HYCM Limited

**Cryptocurrencies are not available under HYCM (Europe) Ltd and Henyep Capital Markets (UK) Ltd.

 

About HYCM
HYCM is the global brand name of Henyep Capital Markets (UK) Limited, HYCM (Europe) Ltd, Henyep Capital Markets (DIFC) Ltd and HYCM Limited, all individual entities under Henyep Capital Markets Group, a global corporation founded in 1977, operating in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

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Portuguese Golden Visa demand soars as 2022 rules change is announced

Posted on by World Finance

Portugal’s Residency Permit Programme – its Golden Visa – has been offering high-net-worth-individuals a route to EU citizenship since 2012. Tiago Camara and David Machado are co-founders of PTGoldenVisa, an investment and consultancy service that focuses exclusively on Portugal’s programme. They explain how the COVID-19 pandemic, in combination with changes to the golden visa rules from January 2022, have created a surge in demand for investments this year. And they discuss how they’ve adapted their services to be more accessible than ever, in a time when people can’t physically visit their potential investment properties.

World Finance: Tiago, who are your clients and what are they looking for?

Tiago Camara: Our clients are typically non-European business owners or highly qualified workers, who are looking for freedom and security. They have available capital to invest – at least €280,000 on real estate, or €350,000 on qualified investment funds – and qualify for a programme that opens them the doors of Europe.

The pandemic has created enormous uncertainty and instability – and for many people, the promise of a Portuguese residency permit, with the potential to apply for citizenship after five years – represents a secure future – or simply a back-up plan against the unforeseen.

World Finance: And David, how are your clients typically investing – and how have things changed since the start of the pandemic?

David Machado: Nowadays the investment is still majority in real estate, so that’s how majority of the clients qualify for the programme. We have different opportunities here, but the big hit these days is to invest over €500,000 in villas, modern villas especially, where you can invest off-plan and get a very high capital appreciation.

And now the demand is bigger than ever. These days people realise how hard it is to travel, how important it is to feel secure and safe. People also feel very comfortable to place their investments in real estate in pandemic situations.

We also simplified the process to make it more easier for those who cannot travel. So everything can be done remotely: with 3D viewings, which these days are very accurate, very precise, and give you the real feeling of travelling through the property, a whole video of the property, outside and inside, and also a video that explain you how the rental projections of the property will perform. This will give you a very accurate feeling of what’s going to happen with your investment.

World Finance: There are big changes coming to the programme in 2022, how are you preparing for that?

David Machado: Our recommendation is for those who have the ability to perform the investments in 2021, don’t delay your investments, because the current rules are much more beneficial than the rules in the next year.

Obviously we’re still very confident that in 2022 Portugal will still be the main programme in Europe, and still very strong. But if you can do it today, don’t leave it for tomorrow, because the current rules allow you to have a very, very safe investment, and collect the benefits the same way. Obviously next year is still going to be attractive, but this year is much better.

World Finance: Finally Tiago, Why PTGoldenVisa? What sets you apart?

Tiago Camara: So, you know, it’s been a challenging time, but we pride ourselves on providing a complete investment and consultancy service all the time for our clients. Our ability to adapt and continue giving an excellent service for our clients through the pandemic is just one of the reasons we were awarded once again as the best Service Provider for the Portuguese Golden Visa Program.

We offer a complete service starting from Real estate investments, consultancy on the Golden Visa programme, assuring the solutions on all the legal legal steps, banking services, tax optimisation, property management. We are basically with our clients through all the investment and through all the programme – and lately we support them to apply for their citizenship.

Just visit our website, www.ptgoldenvisa.com or contact us directly on our email: contact@ptgoldenvisa.com and start your process with us – presently or remotely.

Africa’s 56 million missing homes: Shelter Afrique confronts the crisis

Posted on by World Finance

Shelter Afrique is a pan-African development finance institution, funding low cost, high volume housing in 44 countries across the continent. According to its centre of excellence, there is an urgent crisis in urban housing, with 56 million homes needed in African cities – and that number is growing year-on-year. Andrew Chimpondah explains how Shelter Afrique forms public-private partnerships with governments in order to create homes that cost in the region of $20-30,000 – homes that the majority of people can actually afford.

World Finance: Andrew, how urgent is the need for more urban housing in cities across Africa?

Andrew Chimpondah: Yeah, thank you Paul for the opportunity. I think for us as Shelter Afrique, we view the need for housing as a crisis. We have our centre of excellence that has estimated the shortage of housing at 56 million units throughout the whole of Africa. 56 million units!

And the biggest challenge in Africa is affordability. We need to have products that the majority of Africans can afford. And we do that through the creation of public private partnerships, so that we can achieve development impact.

World Finance: Tell me more about these partnerships – how is Shelter Afrique tackling this housing crisis?

Andrew Chimpondah: So we at Shelter Afrique have realised that for you to get a low-cost house, you need to enter into a partnership with the governments, the 44 governments that are members of Shelter Afrique. That they provide land, and possibly infrastructure support or subsidies; then we can provide funding for the top structure, so that the end result is a house that costs in the region of $20,000-30,000.

We also use that as a way of influencing the policies, the housing policies in our member states so that they provide an enabling environment to create sustainable public-private partnerships.
And then lastly we also have a trade finance product, to also fund countries that want to import building materials like cement, also building materials, to support their house construction.

World Finance: Now I know that you’re working on a number of bond issuances – half a billion US dollars in Nigeria; the same in east Africa, as well as a bond for Francophone Africa – with that funding in place, what can we expect going forward?

Andrew Chimpondah: Going forward what you can expect is that we have now built a pipeline of housing projects in the region of $1bn. Now we need to make sure that we fund that pipeline. That’s very important for us. So we want to look, going forward we want to see our assets under management growing; we want to see ourselves being able to support that pipeline.

And I think more importantly, we are looking forward to the 20th to 26th June, where we are holding our 40th anniversary in Yaoundé in Cameroon, where we’ll be able to promulgate the Yaoundé declaration in terms of 40 years in housing. How have the policies in the member states been effective, and if not, what changes do we need to make in terms of the policies? And you’ll be glad to know that we collaborate with the UN Habitat, we collaborate with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, where we’re actually developing a model, a law, which is a benchmark of housing policy that should create an enabling environment to support the growth of low-cost, large-scale housing.

Last but not least we’re pleased to report in our audited financial results for 2020 a profit which we’ve delivered of $2m, and we’re looking forward to delivering more profit for our member states so that the capital they’re investing in Shelter Afrique continues to grow and gets reinvested in housing.

Top 5 female-fronted fintech firms

Posted on by Richard Willcox

Bringing together the traditionally male-dominated fields of finance and technology, it’s no secret that fintech still has some way to go when it comes to gender equality. In the UK, just one percent of all venture capital funding goes to female-founded fintech firms, and in the US the situation is much the same, with VC investment in female-led fintech teams reaching just three percent. That said, the industry boasts a number of trail-blazing female pioneers, ranging from fintech founders through to angel investors and technology experts. Indeed, while there is still much work to be done, it’s certainly encouraging to see a variety of female-led fintech companies making waves in this fast-moving industry. Many of these firms are also created not just by women but also for women, taking into consideration the specific wants and needs of their female user-base. Here, World Finance takes a look at five of the world’s most exciting female-fronted fintech firms.

 

1 – PensionBee
All eyes are on British pensions provider PensionBee as it readies itself to go public on the London Stock Exchange. Founded by Romi Savova in 2014, the company aims at simplifying pensions for its customers, by consolidating their old pensions into one new plan. The float is expected to value the firm at between £346m and £384m, and with a 45 percent stake in the company, 35-year-old Savova is set to become one of the UK’s wealthiest female technology CEOs. Dubbed ‘the Monzo of pensions the firm’s smartphone-friendly app allows users to manage their pensions remotely and efficiently, with the company hoping to pull the famously-complex industry into the 21st century.

 

2 – Starling Bank
This entry on our list certainly needs no introduction. The digital-only challenger bank achieved coveted ‘unicorn’ status recently, after raising £272m in its largest funding round to date. This latest cash injection sees the British bank valued at £1.1bn, with founder and CEO Anne Boden declaring that “digital banking has reached a tipping point” in a statement confirming the valuation. Boden founded the bank in 2014 at the age of 54, after many years of working in the traditional banking sector. Despite some early setbacks, under Boden’s leadership, Starling has become one of the UK’s fastest growing banks, with a new customer now joining every 39 seconds. In November 2020, she released an explosive tell-all book, Banking On It, which details her struggles as a 50-something woman trying to forge a new path in the competitive fintech industry.

 

3 – Borrowell
Canadian fintech firm Borrowell is on a mission to help those struggling as a result of the COVID-19 induced economic downturn. Founded in 2014, the company hopes to help people achieve their financial goals – whether that includes clearing debt or saving for the future – by helping them to make informed decisions about credit. The company was the first in Canada to offer customers free access to their credit scores, as well as pioneering the country’s first AI-powered ‘credit coach.’ Eva Wong, the firm’s co-founder and COO, has long been a vocal advocate of diversity and inclusion, speaking on how to attract a diverse candidate pool when hiring by focusing on inclusive language in job postings. This commitment to workplace diversity has seen Borrowell listed as one of the Best Workplaces for Women by Great Place to Work Canada.

 

4 – Ellevest
Stock trading apps hit the front pages earlier this year when the so-called ‘GameStop saga’ saw amateur investors drive up the share price of a number of companies – GameStop, Blackberry and AMC Cinemas included. Away from the headlines, trading app Ellevest is looking to shake up the industry, and is dedicated to its goal of helping women to start investing. Founded by Wall Street veteran Sallie Krawcheck in 2014, the company markets itself as a tool built by women, for women, with its investment algorithm taking into account specific issues that may affect its female user-base – such as career breaks, longer average life spans and pay gaps. In March, the company hit a new milestone of $1bn in assets under management, showing a growing appetite for its services even amid the pandemic downturn.

 

5 – Ovamba Solutions
Founded by Viola Llewllyn in 2013, Ovamba Solutions is a fintech firm focused on helping Africa’s micro, small and medium-sized businesses to grow through access to short-term capital. Having noticed that banks and traditional financial institutions were largely unable to close the continent’s credit gap, Llewellyn set up Ovamba Solutions with the intention to empower African entrepreneurs through innovative online platforms and mobile apps that can more effectively meet the demands of burgeoning SMEs. Its offerings include culturally-sensitive technology, such as chatbots that speak a variety of African languages, and solutions that take into consideration the realities affecting African businesses and entrepreneurs.

Top 5 Latin American tech hubs

Posted on by Richard Willcox

In recent years, Latin America has established itself as one of the world’s most promising regions for start-up activity and burgeoning tech talent. Venture capital investment in Latin American tech has been growing steadily over the past five years, doubling annually since 2016 before reaching a record high of $4.6bn in 2019. The COVID-19 recession has, of course, impacted this flow of investment pouring into the region, but many of Latin America’s thriving start-up communities – from Brazil through to Mexico – have shown remarkable adaptability and resilience in the face of the numerous challenges of the past year. Here, World Finance takes a look at five of Latin America’s most exciting tech hubs.

 

1 – São Paulo
The vibrant city of São Paulo is often referred to as Brazil’s innovation powerhouse, with its dynamic tech community attracting a steady flow of VC funding from all over the world. Indeed, over 60 percent of start-up investments in Brazil are concentrated in the city, and it’s not hard to see why. The south-eastern megalopolis is home to a rich tech ecosystem, which supports an impressive number of local ‘unicorns,’ as well as boasting more fintech start-ups than any other Latin American city. It’s hardly surprising, therefore, that tech giants such as Amazon, Uber and Spotify have chosen the city as their Latin American base. The well-established nature of São Paulo’s technology sector has spared it from the worst of the COVID-19 recession, with many of its start-ups not just surviving, but thriving in these economic hard times.

 

2 – Mexico City
Home to over 21 million people, the sprawling megacity of Mexico City is fast establishing a reputation as one of Latin America’s most promising tech hubs. For many investors, Mexico is something of a gateway to the rest of Latin America – while Brazil might be more populous, its primary language is Portuguese, which can pose a challenge to businesses looking to establish a wide-reaching Latin American presence. Spanish-speaking Mexico, meanwhile, provides the ideal entry point to the region’s growing economies, while its capital Mexico City also enjoys a strategic location, with the US tech hubs of Los Angeles and Austin a relatively short flight away. Streaming giant Netflix is one of many big-name companies that have established a regional headquarters in Mexico City, marking a vote of confidence in the city’s thriving tech community.

 

3 – Santiago de Chile
There’s a good reason why the Chilean capital has earned itself the nickname ‘Chilecon Valley.’ A rather remote city, surrounded by the Andean mountains, Santiago is perhaps an unlikely tech hub, but it has long been a hotspot for entrepreneurial activity. Back in 2010, the Chilean government launched the ‘Start-up Chile’ seed accelerator for small business, which provides equity-free investments for start-ups from around the globe. Since its launch, it has worked with over 1,500 start-ups from 80 different countries, in what has been hailed as a world-leading programme. What’s more, the nation ranks as Latin America’s top country for entrepreneurship, according to the 2020 edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Index, with a forward-thinking and adaptable tech community that will help to drive recovery in the aftermath of the Coronavirus crisis.

 

4 – Buenos Aires
Some of Latin America’s most successful start-ups have been borne out of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires – and it’s not just by chance. The city is home to a vibrant and ever-expanding technological ecosystem, gaining a reputation as the region’s best performing tech incubator. Ecommerce giant Mercado Libre – often called the Amazon of Latin America – is undoubtedly the city’s greatest success story, but Buenos Aires is also establishing a name for itself as a regional blockchain hotspot, with the number of Argentinian blockchain and cryptocurrency companies rising by 10 percent in 2019 alone.

 

5 – Medellín
Colombia’s second-largest city has seen its tech scene grow significantly in recent years. The city has been working hard to reinvent itself and shake off the reputation that has dogged it for so many years – with Time magazine dubbing it “the world’s most dangerous city” back in 1988. Nowadays, Medellín can be associated with some much more positive adjectives: innovative, open and dynamic. In 2019, two of China’s largest tech companies, Huawei and Tuya Smart, announced that they would be establishing bases in Medellín, specifically within the city’s specially-developed Innovation District. The Ruta N complex, where both firms will be based, is a co-working space designed to foster innovation and collaboration between start-ups, with hopes to grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem within the city.

The rise of ESG and the importance of compliance

Posted on by Richard Willcox

The pressure from stakeholders, be they lawmakers or shareholders, regulators or activists, or indeed society at large, on companies of all sizes, and across all sectors, to recognise, adhere to, improve, measure and report performance against ESG metrics is increasingly urgent and compelling.

Why is ESG reporting so significant in the business world of 2021, and what are the associated risks? As ever, and recognising the adage that prevention is better than cure, identifying potential issues early on, and ensuring an effective framework is in place to respond efficiently to developments, is key. That is particularly the case in the age of social media, where perceived transgressions are quickly and widely shared.

Whatever sector or jurisdiction a company operates in, effective due diligence of ESG issues and accurate reporting of the results of that diligence, as well as having regard to emerging calls for standardised global ESG disclosure, is essential. The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s recently announced Climate & ESG Task Force, within the Division of Enforcement, highlights the growing focus on gaps or misstatements in ESG-related disclosures.

 

Environmental goals
The increasing prevalence of, and focus on, company reporting is, however, only one side of the story. Recognising and improving – in a meaningful, measurable, way – the issues that are becoming as important to assessments of company performance as traditional financial metrics is key. Commitments to net zero carbon emissions and other environmental goals are laudable, but particularly in the absence of a single unified reporting framework, companies’ environmental impacts must be assessed, and reported, with care. Shortcomings in codes of conduct, human rights and other policies, sustainability reports and press statements are increasingly being identified, scrutinised, and challenged – whether in litigation or otherwise – by stakeholders, including investors.

As an early step, ensuring that an effective and comprehensive compliance programme is in place is essential; that programme should have regard to existing, and forthcoming, legislative developments including, for example (in respect of EU-domiciled companies, or those with EU-based subsidiaries or operations), the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation and the Taxonomy Regulation; or (in respect of UK-domiciled companies), the Modern Slavery Act, and the anticipated legislation signposted recently by the UK Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure, to name just two examples. Similarly, the much-anticipated corporate governance reforms in the UK, announced by UK Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng MP last month (February 2021), will impact on ESG, on reporting obligations in this area, and the price of failure to comply. The significance of these reforms to company directors, whether at board level or otherwise, is critical. Internally, these non-traditional, non-financial, factors will impact decisions on executive remuneration. Externally, companies’ behaviours in those areas will be scrutinised and challenged.

 

Reputational and financial damage
The importance of human rights due diligence cannot be overstated, in the context both of the company itself, but also up and down the supply and value chain. Recent high profile scandals – often resulting in litigation – have revealed the appalling human cost of failing to ensure compliant behaviours, as well as, of course, the associated reputational and financial damage that inevitably follows. Awareness of, and adherence to, the requirements of the various benchmarking regimes, such as the World Benchmarking Alliance’s Human Rights Benchmark, is critical to ensure that best practice is observed. Such benchmarks – which represent independent assessments of companies’ human rights programmes – are useful bases upon which to develop and reinforce practices in this area, hopefully, before problems emerge. Not reporting on these issues is not an option and, as disclosure increasingly becomes mandatory, companies need to ensure that their performance will stand up to scrutiny in the light of the changing legal and regulatory environment.

But ‘hard law’ obligations are only one element of this fast-changing landscape. Consideration should equally be given to the broader societal expectations that are emerging from corporate performance and disclosures of that performance, not only in the context of environmental impact and human rights due diligence (as critical as they are), but also in respect of the multiple other issues falling within the scope of ESG. ‘Soft law’ developments, whether at national, regional or international level, often reflect changing societal norms; the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights is one such example. Recognising the emerging focal points, and improving performance in those areas, should be a priority.

 

Public scrutiny intensifies
To take one example, disclosure obligations in respect of ‘social’ issues has lagged behind that of ‘environmental’ and ‘governance’ issues, in part because the hard law requirements have not, thus far, been as stringent in this area. Treatment of employees, for example, such as in the context of the company’s employment model, or behaviour towards employees during the pandemic, is traditionally under-reported. But that is changing. Particularly as high profile scandals emerge, and resulting public scrutiny intensifies, companies will be under increasing pressure to report – accurately of course – on employee-related issues. As with many ESG issues, these can be difficult to measure, but it is clear that there is increasingly a demand to do so.

Ultimately, these are, or should be, board-level concerns; responsibility for companies’ performance, including by reference to ESG issues, lies with the board, and a close awareness of the requirements in this regard is fundamentally important. As ESG due diligence and reporting requirements continue to dominate the corporate agenda, ensuring best practice and compliance at an early stage will reap benefits, and hopefully avoid pitfalls, down the line.

Top 5 sustainability pioneers in Europe

Posted on by Richard Willcox

The pandemic has prompted us to reconsider many aspects of our lives, from our working habits to how and where we spend our money. It has also served to heighten our awareness of environmental issues, as we begin to think of the world we would like to see post-pandemic. According to a survey by management consultancy company Accenture, 60 percent of consumers say that they have started making more environmentally friendly, sustainable or ethical purchases since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

In the business world, too, sustainability has become a top priority over the course of the past year, with major firms such as Unilever and Google announcing significant green pledges over the course of 2020. Even amid the COVID-19 crunch, venture capital firms have been pouring money into sustainable, purpose-driven start-ups, suggesting that eco-friendly products and services may well be a key area of growth in the post-pandemic world. With that in mind, let’s take a look at five of Europe’s top sustainability pioneers.

 

1 – Oatly (Sweden)
The non-dairy milk market has been booming in recent years, and is predicted to reach revenues of over $38bn by 2024. This is good news indeed for Swedish oat milk-manufacturer Oatly, which has seen its sales soar as ethically-driven consumers seek alternatives to traditional dairy products. Founded in the 1990s, the company states its aim as: “to make it easy for people to turn what they eat and drink into moments of healthy joy, without recklessly taxing the planets’ resources in the process.” Boasting partnerships with major retailers such as Starbucks, the company is undoubtedly one of the most prominent names in the plant-based industry, and is now said to be seeking a valuation of close to $10bn as it prepares to go public on the US stock exchange.

 

2 – EO Charging (UK)
With many of the world’s workers giving up the daily commute in order to work from home in 2020, the pandemic has encouraged a reassessment of our transport usage. While global car sales fell by around a fifth during the pandemic, sales of electric vehicles rose by a remarkable 43 percent, showing an increased appetite for eco-friendly cars. As the demand for electric vehicles grows, the need for increased EV charging infrastructure is becoming ever more apparent. Based in the UK, EO Charging is one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of electric vehicle charging ports, having sold more than 30,000 charging points in over 30 countries in the five years since its launch. Working with high-profile partners such as Uber, Sainsbury’s and Ocado to facilitate a transition to EV, EO Charging was recently named among the Financial Times’ fastest growing companies in Europe.

 

3 – Cellugy (Denmark)
Plastic pollution is an area that has come into sharp focus over the course of the past 12 months, with discarded single-use masks becoming an all too common sight since the start of the pandemic. Based in Aarhus, Denmark, Cellugy is a pioneering biotech start-up that is committed to helping to bring an end to plastic pollution through the creation of alternative forms of packaging. Its innovative product, called EcoFLEXY, is a durable material designed for use in the packaging industry. Made from recycled food waste, the product is all-natural, fully recyclable and biodegradable. In a recent seed round, the company raised €2.38m from the European Innovation Council Accelerator, which will allow it to scale-up production of its EcoFLEXY product.

 

4 – RanMarine Technology (Netherlands)
An unexpected side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the unfortunate increase in marine litter pollution. Plastic gloves, single-use masks and other forms of PPE have been washing up on beaches across the globe, with this increase in plastic waste threatening the health of marine life the world over. Dutch drone technology firm RanMarine is the company behind the innovative WasteShark – a product designed to clear plastic and other waste from all manner of waterways. The device has a 10-hour ‘swimtime,’ and is able to clear 500kg of debris from the water each day – with users able to control the device remotely and monitor its progress in real time. The firm secured a Series-A investment in 2020, allowing it to scale-up its operations this year and beyond.

 

5 – Meatless Farm (UK)
After years of unstoppable rise, 2020 was the year that plant-based foods well and truly hit the mainstream. In the UK, sales of plant-based foods hit £1bn for the first time, with market research company Kantar finding that 13 million consumers had bought meat-free substitutes and dairy-free milk. Fully-vegan companies such as Meatless Farm have seen their sales soar as demand for plant-based products grows. The British firm is on track to record £50m in sales in 2021, with founder Morten Toft Bech setting his sights on an eventual $1bn valuation. If achieved, this will make the Meatless Farm a rare ‘unicorn’ company. After a ‘Veganuary’ sales bump – which saw the company’s global sales rise by 92 percent compared with the same month in 2020 – 2021 is already shaping up to be a momentous year for the Meatless Farm.

How can banks respond to the open banking revolution?

Posted on by itsupport

The success of open banking has been widely documented, with more than two million people and small businesses currently using it in the UK. These services give third-party financial service providers open access to financial data from banks and other financial institutions through Application Programming Interface (API) driven ecosystems. Open banking’s popularity is no surprise considering the benefits it offers customers. It can instantly round up and save digital spare change from consumer purchases, recommend financial products and make cross-border payments cheaper, faster and more secure than traditional bank transfers. What’s more, the need to evolve has accelerated because of the pandemic. In order to thrive in this landscape and retain their customers, banks need to be proactive.

 

What challenges are banks facing?
While the banking industry has advanced in certain ways in recent years, COVID-19 has hastened the need for a real shake-up. As explained in this report by KPMG, the financial sector was one of the industries most greatly impacted by the pandemic, with most banks seeing the price of their stocks slump. This has forced them to look at alternative revenue models by re-evaluating their product offerings and customer needs, setting up a landscape full of opportunity.

“Although COVID-19 may lead to a crisis in the real economy, the impact on the banking system and on the bank-customer relationship can also be defined as a ‘positive discontinuity’ for the purpose of digitisation of the sector and the ability to offer an excellent customer experience,” the report reads. This is something that many banks are already working towards. A recent survey of 300 global banking executives by banking software company Temenos found that 45 percent plan to create digital ecosystems, while 29 percent have open banking initiatives in place. But what of those not being so proactive?

We already know just how big a year 2020 was for open banking, with a Mastercard study finding that 62 percent of respondents across 12 European markets were interested in switching to digital banking. The company’s recent Global State of Play report also revealed that 53 percent of the world’s population use banking apps more than they did pre-Covid. Consumers have come to expect fast, accessible, convenient payments using online and mobile solutions and banks are now under pressure to meet these demands. This is especially true while they face stiff competition from tech giant offerings such as Google Wallet and Apple Credit Card, as well as the fintechs quickly creating sleek, user-friendly apps using open banking APIs.

 

How can banks respond to this shift?
Rather than banks seeing fintechs as their adversaries, it’s much better to make them collaborators. Fintechs can use cutting-edge technology to build streamlined, innovative APIs to replace a bank’s old-fashioned products. They can also do so quickly as they aren’t weighed down by things like customer acquisition and legacy infrastructures. This lean, flexible approach enables banks to reduce costs and give their customers far more seamless experiences with competitive prices. Fintechs also work with banks to find and provide solutions to ongoing security threats. In return, these businesses can benefit from a bank’s trusted name and large customer base.

Such partnerships have been embraced by plenty of banks already, with promising results. HSBC, for example, was the first UK bank to launch a successful standalone open banking application. “That was all done in partnership with other firms, very little of the build was within HSBC,” Hetal Popat, HSBC’s head of open banking and PSD2, explains to Computerworld. “[They] move faster, do things cheaper and bring new ideas and approaches into the firm.” He also notes that the open banking data lets them accept more customers for credit products: “There’s a lot of customers out there in the UK who are perfectly creditworthy, but the data the bureau has on them is limited and therefore, due to a thin file, banks may say no. Now we get more data, we can say this customer is creditworthy and offer a loan.”

However, banks must also ensure that they choose the right fintechs to partner with. That starts by establishing exactly what problem it is they want to solve. As Vince Padua, chief technology and innovation officer at Axway emphasises in an article for Forbes: “For banks, knowing that your customers want all things but that your institution alone can’t be all things for them is key.” Only when they have prioritised their requirements can they find a fintech that will deliver what their customers expect and help out when things go wrong. The open banking trend is here to stay, and partnering with fintechs to offer modern and sleek APIs is necessary to increase customer loyalty and attract new clientele.

Top 5 keys to global economic recovery

Posted on by Richard Willcox

One year on from the onset of the pandemic, and while the world certainly isn’t out of the COVID-19 woods just yet, we now have some cause for cautious optimism. Across the globe, vaccination drives are picking up steam – although it must be said that the success of said drives differ wildly from one country to the next. After a year of stop-start lockdowns, depressed wages, mass redundancies and vastly diminished economic activity, the global economy is now expected to grow by four percent in 2021, according to the latest predictions from the World Bank.

While this is positive news indeed, global economic recovery from the pandemic is set to be long, slow and highly dependent on a number of key factors, with curbing the spread of the virus and ensuring widespread deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine of course being at the top of the list. While too much has already sadly been lost – in terms of both lives and livelihoods – we may now be turning a corner on the fight against Coronavirus. Here, World Finance takes a look at the key factors that will impact global economic recovery in the 12 months to come.

 

1 – A successful, widespread vaccine roll-out
Unsurprisingly, the effective and widespread deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine had to be top of our list. Since the first Pfizer jab was administered in early December of last year, vaccine deployment has been steadily gaining momentum worldwide, although some countries are certainly outpacing others when it comes to the speed and strength of their vaccination programmes. Take Europe, for example: the UK has now vaccinated over half of its adult population, while just 14 percent of EU citizens have received the jab at the time of writing. While the vaccine will help to restore some semblance of normality, for global recovery to become more sure-footed, the jabs need to be deployed both rapidly and fairly around the world. In particular, low and lower-middle-income countries are at risk of a lack of access to vaccines, leaving them vulnerable to long-term economic damage as the world finds its feet post-pandemic.

 

2 – Supportive fiscal policy for businesses
For businesses of all sizes, the past 12 months have likely been the most challenging in recent history. As countries around the world have moved in and out of restrictive lockdowns, many businesses have found that their income has simply dried up; leaving them more or less dependent on government assistance in order to keep the wolves from the door in these testing times. From job retention schemes to business loans and protection from eviction, governments around the world have attempted to provide safety nets to those companies worst affected by the pandemic. In the EU, for example, France, Germany, Spain and Italy have committed to spending an additional $3.1trn on business support since the start of the pandemic. While this support has proved invaluable to many SMEs, for others, it hasn’t quite been enough to save them from the jaws of bankruptcy. If businesses are to stand a chance at bouncing back from the pandemic, then this generous, wide-reaching support will need to continue long into 2021.

 

3 – An end to stop-start lockdowns
Even with extensive government support, the stop-start nature of lockdowns around the world has posed a significant challenge to even the most innovative and forward-thinking of businesses. For many firms – particularly those operating in the arts, tourism and hospitality sectors – their entire business models are incompatible with a world restricted by lockdown measures and social-distancing requirements. Many businesses will require a return to ‘normality’ sooner rather than later if they are to survive, but as of now it is impossible to predict whether the current spate of lockdowns will indeed be the world’s last. Until countries are able to achieve and maintain low infection levels, then lockdowns may well remain on the cards for some time to come.

 

4 – Targeted support for those hardest hit
While the pandemic has affected every single one of us over the course of the past year, the COVID-19 recession has been felt much more acutely among certain groups than others. Indeed, the pandemic has served to exacerbate the inequalities already present in society, with the young and those on lower incomes bearing the brunt of the economic downturn. According to data from the Office for National Statistics, in the UK, 88 percent of the payrolled jobs lost over the course of the past year have been lost to under 35-year-olds, creating a looming youth unemployment crisis. Targeted support for these affected groups – such as the British government’s Kickstart job creation scheme for 16 to 24-year-olds on Universal Credit – will prove crucial in the months and years to come.

 

5 – Investment in future growth
As we now tentatively look to a post-pandemic future, governments around the world will need to shift their thinking from ‘survival mode’ to focusing on future economic growth. In the longer run, investments in high growth areas such as digital infrastructure and green energy could boost job creation and stand to future-proof economies around the world. According to PwC, there will be a renewed global shift towards embracing green infrastructure and fighting climate change in 2021, with the US, EU and China all set to prioritise green strategy over the course of the next year. According to the International Labour Organisation, a global move to a greener economy could create 24 million new jobs by 2040, meaning that investment in these areas could help to spur growth in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Top 5 WFH habits, according to the world’s most successful business leaders

Posted on by Richard Willcox

In March 2020, the world began an unprecedented experiment in working from home. Almost overnight, offices were emptied and employees were encouraged to WFH wherever possible, with most employees expecting to return to the office in a short matter of weeks. Weeks soon turned into months, and as the pandemic showed no signs of abating, workers continued to log on remotely, carrying out meetings from their bedrooms and living rooms through Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

Now, one year on from the first COVID-19 lockdowns, it seems that WFH is here to stay, with many companies introducing permanent ‘flexible working.’ While there are undoubtedly benefits of working remotely – time and money saved on lengthy commutes, and a better work-life balance among them – there are also some downsides. Many have found themselves more easily distracted, while others have found it hard to switch off when their laptop is permanently within reach. For those of you who might be struggling to set up a productive WFH routine, here, World Finance has put together five of the best remote working tips, as recommended by some of the world’s most successful business leaders.

 

1 – “Buffer time,” says LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner
As CEO of LinkedIn, Jeff Weiner knows a thing or two about healthy work habits. For years now, he has been a vocal proponent of ‘buffer time’ – brief interludes in your daily schedule that act as ‘buffers’ between meetings or other periods of high-intensity work. With the dawn of widespread remote working, Weiner has reemphasised the importance of taking these short, scheduled breaks, stressing that they can serve to boost both productivity and wellbeing. Taking to his own LinkedIn profile, Weiner wrote: “Free time in between video calls is increasingly being absorbed by taking care of kids, caring for dependents, doing household chores, and myriad other ways in which people are jumping from one task to the next. Make sure to carve out real buffer time: to catch your breath, get some exercise, or whatever you enjoy that helps put your mind at ease.”

 

2 – “Reflect on the day,” according to Zoom CEO Eric Yuan
There is perhaps no company as synonymous with WFH than video conferencing platform Zoom. The company’s founder and CEO, Eric Yuan, has said that he believes that the future of work will be hybrid – a mix of remote and office-based working – and that people’s working habits will therefore permanently change. In an interview with Business Insider, Yuan reflected on his own WFH routine, with a typical day unsurprisingly consisting of plenty of Zoom calls and meetings. One habit that he always makes time for is putting aside a 15-minute slot in the evening to reflect on the day – examining what went well and what he could have done differently. Yuan calls this slot a “thinking meditation,” and says that these periods of reflection help him to consider how he can be continuously improving as a leader.

 

3 – “Get outside of the house” says YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki
While some people have found themselves more easily distracted from their work while WFH, others have found it impossible to pull themselves away from their computer screens without the structure of a traditional office day. For YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, getting away from her desk and heading outside for some fresh air twice a day has proved invaluable while working remotely. “I need to get outside of the house, whether it’s walks or exercise, I find that’s essential for me. I need that a couple of times a day,” she said in an interview with Bloomberg. As well as making sure to get outdoors, she also said that keeping a positive outlook has helped her while working through lockdown, saying: “I’m also trying to remember that this will end, that we will get through it. Like any crisis – as a leader we all go through crises and we know they do end.”

 

4 – Set a schedule, as advised by Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates
Bill Gates is perhaps one of the most high-profile figures advocating for WFH culture to continue long after the pandemic. Speaking at an online business summit organised by The Economic Times, the Microsoft Co-founder said: “It is amazing to see how well the work from home culture has worked, and I hope it will continue even after the pandemic is over.” While he has sung the praises of remote working, Gates has also acknowledged its limitations and the challenges it poses to both workers and students alike. Making a guest appearance on an episode of Code Break, Gates stressed the importance of discipline and structure when logging on remotely. “I do think that having a new normal pattern and trying every day to stick to that is pretty helpful,” he said. “I do think that discipline is pretty important.”

 

5 – Start the day with exercise and meditation like Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey
In the months following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Twitter was one of the first major firms to announce that its sudden pivot to remote working would be a permanent change, telling its employees that they would be allowed to work from home “forever,” if they so wish. Pre-pandemic, the company’s CEO Jack Dorsey was an early proponent of flexible working, and tended to work from home at least two days a week. When working from home, Dorsey begins his days with a spot of meditation, followed by some high-intensity interval training. This involves a seven minute workout to wake the body up before the start of the working day. “The thing that I love about the workout is that I never have an excuse,” he said on a podcast appearance in 2019. “I don’t have a personal trainer. I don’t go to the gym. All I need in order to do a workout every single day is a chair and wall and my body weight.”

Top 5 pandemic-proof industries

Posted on by Richard Willcox

The COVID-19 pandemic has delivered a cruel blow to businesses over the course of the past 12 months, with entire industries effectively put on pause and little indication as to when they might be able to reopen. Travel, hospitality, entertainment and the arts are among the hardest hit sectors, being essentially unable to operate as countries around the world move in and out of restrictive national lockdowns. But where some industries have struggled, others have thrived, with repeated lockdowns proving no barrier to their success. As the vaccines start to take effect and the global economy begins to tentatively recover in 2021, there are a handful of industries that have proved themselves to be pandemic-proof, able to withstand the shocks of the past year and putting themselves in a strong position as the world looks towards a post-Covid future. Here, World Finance takes a look at five of those pandemic-proof industries.

 

1 – Real estate
COVID-19 has sent the world into a deep recession – the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Redundancies and reduced wages have sadly become all too common in households the world over, but even with families feeling the pandemic-pinch, the demand for homes has been skyrocketing. With WFH becoming the new normal, people have been reconsidering their living arrangements, looking to relocate from city centres and showing a growing interest in larger properties with outdoor space. This so-called ‘race for space’ has sent home prices soaring, creating a ‘Covid boom’ for the real estate industry. In October 2020, UK house prices rose at their fastest rate in four years, with mortgage lender Halifax confirming that the average price of a home had reached £250,000 for the first time in history. In the US, meanwhile, 2020 saw home sales reach their highest level since 2006, showing a spike in demand on both sides of the Atlantic. Even as the world enters what is set to be a long and slow recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, estate agents predict that house prices will continue to rise, with no end in sight for the real estate boom.

 

2 – IT and digital services
This one surely comes as no surprise. Since the onset of the pandemic, we have become ever more reliant on digital services – with WFH, remote schooling and virtual socialising all dependent on reliable, high-speed digital technologies. Even as the vaccination programme gathers momentum around the world, offering a glimpse at a return to ‘normality,’ it seems likely that our working habits will be permanently changed by the pandemic, with agile, remote working seemingly here to stay. This is, of course, a real boon for the digital services industry, with big tech seeing their profits soar since the start of the pandemic. Amazon’s cloud computing arm – Amazon Web Services – helped to drive the company to a record profit of $6.3bn in the third quarter of 2020, as companies across the globe continue to migrate to digital. Apple, too, posted record revenues of $59.7bn in its third fiscal quarter, and more than 3.3 billion people now use a Facebook-owned app at least once a month, with social media usage soaring during the pandemic. Records like these go to show that tech companies are not just pandemic-proof, but pandemic-profitable.

 

3 – Construction
While stop-start lockdowns have brought many industries to a standstill, work has continued steadily in the construction sector – albeit not quite ‘business as usual.’ In the UK, construction sites have been allowed to remain open throughout the nation’s three national lockdowns since March 2020, and despite a contraction in the spring, the sector has bounced back at a remarkable rate. A boom in infrastructure projects has seen construction work top pre-pandemic levels, with an increased demand for housing fueling a rise in new projects. In November 2020, the value of all UK construction work reached £14.01bn – the highest level since pre-lockdown January 2020. In the US, construction projects have also continued largely unabated in most parts of the country, with 18.3 percent of construction businesses saying in a recent JustBusiness survey that the pandemic had had no impact, or a positive impact on their output.

 

4 – e-Commerce
The world of retail has been completely transformed by the pandemic. Government-mandated lockdowns, social distancing measures and COVID-19-related anxieties have seen footfall at traditional bricks-and-mortar stores dwindle down to record lows. Unsurprisingly, while physical stores have suffered, e-commerce operations have boomed, with data from the Office of National Statistics showing that online sales grew by a remarkable 24 percent in the UK in 2020. To put that figure into perspective, before the pandemic, online shopping was growing at an estimated rate of 4.5 percent globally, showing just how profound the pandemic has been in ushering in the age of e-commerce. According to a new report from IBM, the pandemic has fast-tracked the shift from physical stores to e-commerce by approximately five years – and many believe that this will be a permanent change in consumer behaviour.

 

5 – Pharmaceuticals
Before this year, how many of us would have been able to reel off a list of pharmaceutical companies from memory? Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca are perhaps as familiar to us now as Coca-Cola, Disney and Nike. The pharmaceutical industry has taken centre stage this year, playing a central role in the global fight against COVID-19. The world rejoiced at the discovery of multiple successful vaccines against Coronavirus, and the news sent pharmaceutical shares soaring in the latter half of 2020. What’s more, the pandemic has served to highlight the importance of infectious disease prevention, treatment and research, with the drug discovery market predicted to be valued at a remarkable $71bn by 2050.

Quantum computing is finally having something of a moment

Posted on by itsupport

In 2019, Google announced that they had achieved ‘quantum supremacy’ by showing they could run a particular task much faster on their quantum device than on any classical computer. Research teams around the world are competing to find the first real-world applications and finance is at the very top of this list.

However, quantum computing may do more than change the way that quantitative analysts run their algorithms. It may also profoundly alter our perception of the financial system, and the economy in general. The reason for this is that classical and quantum computers handle probability in a different way.

 

The quantum coin
In classical probability, a statement can be either true or false, but not both at the same time. In mathematics-speak, the rule for determining the size of some quantity is called the norm. In classical probability, the norm, denoted the 1-norm, is just the magnitude. If the probability is 0.5, then that is the size.

The next-simplest norm, known as the 2-norm, works for a pair of numbers, and is the square root of the sum of squares. The 2-norm therefore corresponds to the distance between two points on a 2-dimensional plane, instead of a 1-dimensional line, hence the name. Since mathematicians love to extend a theory, a natural question to ask is what rules for probability would look like if they were based on this 2-norm.

It is only in the final step, when we take the magnitude into account, that negative probabilities are forced to become positive

For one thing, we could denote the state of something like a coin toss by a 2-D diagonal ray of length 1. The probability of heads is given by the square of the horizontal extent, while the probability of tails is given by the square of the vertical extent. By the Pythagorean theorem, the sum of these two numbers equals 1, as expected for a probability. If the coin is perfectly balanced, then the line should be at 45 degrees, so the chances of getting a heads or tails are identical. When we toss the coin and observe the outcome, the ambiguous state “collapses” to either heads or tails.

Because the norm of a quantum probability depends on the square, one could also imagine cases where the probabilities were negative. In classical probability, negative probabilities don’t make sense: if a forecaster announced a negative 30 percent chance of rain tomorrow, we would think they were crazy. However, in a 2-norm, there is nothing to prevent negative probabilities occurring. It is only in the final step, when we take the magnitude into account, that negative probabilities are forced to become positive. If we’re going to allow negative numbers, then for mathematical consistency we should also permit complex numbers, which involve the square root of negative one. Now it’s possible we’ll end up with a complex number for a probability; however the 2-norm of a complex number is a positive number (or zero). To summarise, classical probability is the simplest kind of probability, which is based on the 1-norm and involves positive numbers. The next-simplest kind of probability uses the 2-norm, and includes complex numbers. This kind of probability is called quantum probability.

 

Quantum logic
In a classical computer, a bit can take the value of 0 or 1. In a quantum computer, the state is represented by a qubit, which in mathematical terms describes a ray of length 1. Only when the qubit is measured does it give a 0 or 1. But prior to measurement, a quantum computer can work in the superposed state, which is what makes them so powerful.

So what does this have to do with finance? Well, it turns out that quantum algorithms behave in a very different way from their classical counterparts. For example, many of the algorithms used by quantitative analysts are based on the concept of a random walk. This assumes that the price of an asset such as a stock varies in a random way, taking a random step up or down at each time step. It turns out that the magnitude of the expected change increases with the square-root of time.

Quantum computing has its own version of the random walk, which is known as the quantum walk. One difference is the expected magnitude of change, which grows much faster (linearly with time). This feature matches the way that most people think about financial markets. After all, if we think a stock will go up by eight percent in a year then we will probably extend that into the future as well, so the next year it will grow by another eight percent. We don’t think in square-roots.

This is just one way in which quantum models seem a better fit to human thought processes than classical ones. The field of quantum cognition shows that many of what behavioural economists call ‘paradoxes’ of human decision-making actually make perfect sense when we switch to quantum probability. Once quantum computers become established in finance, expect quantum algorithms to get more attention, not for their ability to improve processing times, but because they are a better match for human behaviour.