A security challenge worthy of a Bond movie

Firms are using armed guards and trucks with panic buttons and kill switches to protect vaccine shipments that present a challenge worthy of a James Bond film. With that cargo worth tens of billions of dollars — and some individual shipments valued as high as $70m — it is nearly certain that crooks will try to steal some of it. Interpol in December issued an orange alert notice warning that it expects a dramatic increase in armed robberies of vaccine shipments as well as vandalism by anti-vaccine militants. On the dark web, Covid-19 vaccines of unknown origin and authenticity are already selling for $200 per dose. The pandemic has previously sparked thefts such as the stealing of millions of respiratory masks from an aviation facility in Kenya and the pillage of $1m worth of medical gloves from a container in Florida.

(Adapted from “Vaccine Shipments Present a Security Challenge Worthy of a James Bond Film,” by Thomas Buckley, published on Mar 2, 2021, by Bloomberg Businessweek)

Leveraging Pakistan’s postal service for savings

Post offices are often structured like non-profits, and have a mission to achieve universal access; they may even be subsidised for this purpose. This is in contrast to conventional financial institutions that are motivated primarily by profit motives, and for whom the cost of accommodating small-scale savers and borrowers can act as a deterrent. Moreover, in emerging economies, it may be simpler and cheaper to mobilise small savings through postal savings banks, since less educated, low-income groups may find it hard to grasp how alternatives such as pension funds work. Postal financial inclusion allows people who were previously cut off from formal financial services to gain access, either through direct provision of financial services or by utilising a postal channel that connects with partner financial institutions.

(Adapted from “Enhancing Financial Inclusion through Pakistan Post,” by Dr Waqas Ahmed, Talha Nadeem and Khurram Ashfaq Baluch, published in June 2020 by State Bank of Pakistan)

Covid-19 fallout and the decline in working women in India

The proportion of women in India’s labour force had been falling for some time. The pandemic has exacerbated this labour-market trend. In 2019, a research firm found that 9.7pc of adult Indian women in cities considered themselves as part of the workforce. By November last year, that had dropped to 6.9pc. Largely because of the dismal level of female participation, India’s overall workforce has failed to grow. It was 420m in 2016 and is now just 400m, according to the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy, a private research firm that closely tracks unemployment. Estimates and projections suggest that it would be around 600m if India had a similar labour participation rate to, say China or Indonesia. Overall, millions have lost work, or been forced to accept less money and harsher conditions.

(Adapted from “Hardly any women in India are in paid employment,” published on Feb 20, 2021, by The Economist)

When a shoe is an asset class

Sneakerheads have turned Jordans and Yeezys into a bona fide asset class. The sneaker boom has created opportunities for a new generation of speculators. For them, the sneaker is a lot like playing the market. In the hours after siphoning up stock from retailers, they essentially sell short-term futures based on street sentiment. By the time prices plateau, ultra-rare shoes such as the Air Jordan 1OG Dior — a collaboration between Nike and Parisian fashion house that was limited to 8,500 pairs — have become “grails” worth 10,000 or more, while the more attainable stock has been bundled into tranches and sold on to other resellers at a bulk discount. Like their new fellow travellers, the day traders of Reddit, sneaker resellers have used community and technology to exploit a system that wasn’t quite ready for them.

(Adapted from “Sneakerheads Have Turned Jordans and Yeezys Into a Bona Fide Asset Class, by Joshua Hunt, published on Feb 25, 2021, by Bloomberg Businessweek).

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, , March 8th, 2021