FWD Consulting

As the Russia/Ukraine war entered its second month, bond yields surged as the US Federal Reserve appeared to take a more aggressive stance towards raising interest rates.

The FTSE 100 gained 1.1% over the week.

The UK inflation rate accelerated to a 30-year high of 6.2% in February.

In his Spring Statement, Chancellor Rishi Sunak underwhelmed households suffering from a cost-of-living crisis when he failed to tackle soaring fuel bills. The chancellor raised the threshold at which National Insurance Contributions are paid and cut fuel duty by 5% for 12 months. He also pledged that the basic rate on income tax would be cut by 1% to 19% in 2024.

The Office for Budget Responsibility downgraded the UK growth outlook this year to 3.8% from 6% forecast in October after real household income dropped to its lowest level since records began in 1957.

The flash estimate of the UK composite purchasing managers’ index eased to 59.7 in March from 59.9 in February. Activity was supported by the strongest expansion in the service sector since last June with the index rising to 61.0 from 60.5 the previous month, supply shortages and escalating inflationary pressures amid the removal of all COVID-19 restrictions. However, manufacturing activity fell to a 13-month low of 55.5 in March from 58 in February due to supply shortages and escalating inflationary pressures. [READ MORE…]

                                              7 Top Tips On Electric Vehicle Insurance

2022 looks set to be an important year for the electric car. Electric vehicles (EVs) are on track to set a sales record, according to recent reports as interest surges. Whether you’re a consumer or a business with a fleet looking to invest, you may not yet have given much thought to insurance. But Elon Musk has. He is planning to use telematics data from Tesla vehicles to build a new insurance operation. Musk recently announced his strategy in an earnings call with investors. And that has left many asking how insurance for an EV might differ to the traditional car.

If you go ahead and buy an EV, your insurance policy will likely look much the same as before but with some notable differences. Whilst this trend has many advantages, its gradual increase in popularity will likely come with insurance implications as indicated by our recent survey. FWD’s research showed that 90% of brokers who place motor insurance believe that EVs, new energy and technology will have a significant impact on insurance policies for their clients. [READ MORE…]

      Worldline and Microsoft Introduce Next Generation Fraud Solution For Online Payments

Paris La Défense, 29 March 2022 – Worldline (Euronext: WLN), a global leader in payments, has today announced the official launch of its partnership with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection. The collaboration will enable Worldline’s enterprise-level customers to deal with increasing challenges caused by online payment fraud.

As the first provider within the payments industry to fully adopt and integrate this Microsoft fraud screening solution, Worldline is now able to offer a next-generation hybrid fraud solution that can help increase accuracy and efficiency far beyond that of traditional rules or advanced machine learning alone. Powered by adaptive AI technology the solution is able to learn and adapt to the ever-changing fraud patterns, enabling global merchants to optimise fraud detection and protect revenue.

The collaboration between Worldline and Microsoft enables enterprise level customers to take advantage of the cutting-edge Dynamics 365 technology solution, from the outset, without wasting time and resource on deployment or onboarding. The result sees a truly seamless integration with no adverse impact on the overall customer experience. [READ MORE…]