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Our briefing for Thursday, August 19, 2021:
Aug 19, 2021 3:28:38 PM
- In the United States, the Biden administration announced that vaccines will now be mandatory for employees of nursing homes. The mandatory vaccines are a condition of the facilities receiving the Medicare and Medicaid federal healthcare programs. "I'm using the power of the federal government as a payer of healthcare costs to insure we reduce those risks to our most vulnerable seniors. These steps are all about keeping people safe and out of harm's way," Biden said at the White House. Studies show that vaccinating all nursing home staff could result in at least 30% fewer Covid-19 cases, according to Biden.
- In Canada, new data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) shows that there have been nearly 95,000 Covid-19 cases reported among healthcare workers since the beginning of the pandemic. The data, which was released on Thursday, shows that cases among healthcare workers have increased 43% since January. Healthcare workers were among the first to receive their vaccines in Canada, but there is currently no data available to show how many healthcare workers have been vaccinated to date. Quebec’s numbers were the highest of all the provinces, with 45,320 cases and 13 deaths reported among healthcare workers.
- In the United Kingdom, coronavirus cases are up 7.6% in Britain over the last week, the latest data available Wednesday showed. The numbers are the highest they’ve been since July 23, although hospitalizations and deaths in Britain remain relatively low compared to previous waves. Despite the success of vaccination campaigns, a new U.K. study shows that the vaccines may be less effective against the delta variant. The study was run by the University of Oxford and the Office for National Statistics and analyzed more than 3 million PCR tests from a random sample of people.
- In Italy, daily coronavirus cases have risen to 7162 from 5273 the day before. Deaths have also gone up from 54 to 69 in a 24-hour period. Italy has reported 128,579 Covid-19-related deaths since its outbreak began last February, the second highest number in Europe after Britain and the eighth highest in the world. Italy’s vaccination campaign continues, with 68.1% of the population having had at least one dose, while 57.7% are fully vaccinated as of August 18.
- In New Zealand, coronavirus case numbers are jumping as the country begins to deal with the highly transmissible delta variant. Eleven new cases were reported on Thursday, taking the total to 21 and leaving citizens to question the government’s slow vaccine rollout. Authorities have linked the origins of the latest outbreak to someone who returned from Sydney on August 7. "This is a significant development. It means now we can be fairly certain how and when the virus entered the country," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a news conference. "And the period in which cases were in the community was relatively short."
- In Australia, New South Wales reported its highest daily case count at 681, surpassing the previous day’s high of 633. Authorities are rushing to vaccinate people, as emergency supplies were provided to Sydney’s worst-affected suburbs. State Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the vaccinations can provide some hope to Australia’s biggest city which has been locked down since late June. “The next few weeks will be hard, but no doubt that once we get those high vaccination rates life will feel much better, it will look much rosier,” Berejiklian told reporters.
Covid-19 – Due Diligence And Asset Management
The “new normal”: How virtual conferencing has optimised investor due diligence during Covid-19
Brief: The “fluidity” of virtual conferencing has proved a “silver lining” during the pandemic, optimising allocator time during the investor due diligence process, according to new research by alternatives-focused software-as-a-service and data management company Vidrio Financial. In a new market commentary, Mazen Jabban, founder and CEO of Vidrio Financial, examined the sweeping changes and far-reaching impact of virtual manager meetings on hedge fund manager-investor relationships over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. New Vidrio Financial research shows 100 per cent of those surveyed expect a transition to a hybrid mix of virtual and in-person meetings – the so-called “new normal” – when it comes to the due diligence and asset allocation process, with one manager not expecting return to in-person due diligence meetings until 2022.
Financial institutions are prime targets for cybercriminals and future attacks are 'inevitable'
Brief: According to IBM, 23 per cent of all cyber-attacks are directed at financial institutions, while the total cost of a single data breach is the second largest among all industries, costing financial organisations USD5.72 million on average. Another study indicated that 53 per cent of data breaches are financially motivated, so the industry is constantly on the cybercrime radar. In other sectors, malicious users get a foothold through social engineering, credential stuffing, and application vulnerabilities. However, the Finance sector is different as these users primarily compromise internal corporate networks. The pandemic has accelerated the digital shift, with enterprises focusing on securing cloud environments.
Stocks and commodities drop on Fed, growth worries
Brief: Stocks dropped, while Treasuries and the dollar rose as concern about the withdrawal of Federal Reserve stimulus mixed with growing angst around the coronavirus and global supply chains. The S&P 500 was down for a third day, and a gauge of equity volatility headed for its biggest weekly increase since January. Commodities sold off, with iron ore plunging and oil on track for its longest losing streak since the early days of the pandemic. The rout in Chinese companies listed in the U.S. deepened after the industry was hit with a fresh round of proposed regulations, with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Baidu Inc. tumbling. Investors are bracing for the withdrawal of unprecedented liquidity as the developed world looks to mass vaccinations to keep the recovery on track. swings.
Finance Firms Are Giving Coders More Flexibility Than Bankers
Brief: As Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s top brass sounded the alarm of a return to pre-pandemic office life, one group of workers was reassured they’d get to keep some of their treasured flexibility. The Wall Street firm’s coders can continue to work from home two days a week, according to people briefed on the firm’s plans. They’re not alone. Across financial services, the software engineers who have been at the heart of talent wars are winning more freedom than the bankers they work with. Wells Fargo & Co. told employees last month that work from home will be capped at two days a week for many roles, but said it would make an exception for most of its technology team. Citigroup Inc. chalks up some of its recent wins around tech recruiting to the firm’s greater flexibility around remote work. Other lenders, including Barclays Plc, have also made clear that some roles would get more flexibility and the bank would leave the details of its hybrid approaches to the managers. The British bank is giving up its second office in London’s Canary Wharf financial district.
Delta-related economic downgrades are on the rise
Brief: The pandemic remains a part of the economic story. In June 2020, Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell said at a press conference, "The extent of the downturn and the pace of recovery remain extraordinarily uncertain and will depend in large part on our success in containing the virus. We all want to get back to normal, but a full recovery is unlikely to occur until people are confident that it is safe to reengage in a broad range of activities."In the year-plus that has followed, the economy has enjoyed a very strong recovery. But the current spread of the Delta variant throughout the U.S. now has economist cautioning that the pandemic is again throttling the speed at which the economy is bouncing back.
