The Group’s three global business units, Adecco, LHH, and Akkodis, will further scale the deployment of agentic AI to cover multiple key markets, leveraging the expanded partnership with Salesforce.

“Adecco has already seen significant success in the United Kingdom, where Agentforce 360 has been deployed in key parts of the recruitment process to free up time for quality human-human interaction, enhancing both client service and candidate experience, and saving 15 per cent of time, reducing time-to-fill, increasing fill rates, and reducing cost-to-serve,” the Zurich-headquartered venture said in a press note.

“The Group supports this rapid scaling of agentic AI with its global operating model, integrated onshore delivery centres and nearshore and offshore hubs in India, Poland, Mexico, and Morocco, and a strategic focus on strengthening human connections through its omni-channel network in over 60 countries,” it added.

“We continue to be the pioneer of human-centric AI implementation. Unlimited access to Agentforce lets us rapidly scale proven agentic AI solutions globally and across our brands. This will improve our service speed, quality, and reliability, freeing our people to focus on the human interactions that made them choose this career,” Denis Machuel, CEO of the Adecco Group, said.

“The world of work is being accelerated by AI, and the Adecco Group is working as a strategic partner to help guide our 100,000 clients with the strategic workforce reorganisation and people and talent strategy required to drive business impact with AI implementation. This agreement allows us to create real value for clients, candidates, and our people,” he added.

“By moving beyond experimentation to a full-scale agentic enterprise, Adecco Group is proving that autonomous agents can deliver the determinism and predictability needed to power a global business. Powered by Agentforce 360, Adecco now has the ‘always-on’ foundation to connect millions of job seekers with career opportunities, using agents to drive 50% of their revenue by the close of 2026. This partnership represents Salesforce’s vision, as humans and agents work together on a single, trusted platform to deliver business outcomes at scale,” Madhav Thattai, EVP & GM Agentforce, Salesforce, said.

By creating the trusted enterprise context foundation in Data 360, Adecco Group has consolidated data across over 30 Salesforce instances and enterprise systems into a single, live candidate profile, providing its 27,000 recruiters with the insight they require to match talent faster, apart from prioritising efforts and fuelling agentic workflows around the world. Agentforce Voice is about to make its market debut, which will further accelerate this momentum, increasing recruiter productivity, enabling faster placements, and delivering a better experience for all candidates.

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FCA interim chief executive Christopher Woolard said in a statement, “We have been clear that we believe in the majority of cases business interruption insurance was not purchased to, and is unlikely to, cover the current emergency. However, there remain a number of policies where it is clear that the firm has an obligation to pay out.’

It is reported that the FCA had asked a small number of firms in the UK if they were declining business interruption claims. The UK watchdog has given them a timeline until May 15 to respond. Based on their responses, it will decide which firms should join the court process.

It appears that Hiscox, a Bermuda-incorporated insurance provider, is among the first firms to feel the strain from small businesses to clear business interruption. AXA, QBE and Zurich are other insurers facing similar situations. The FCA’s move is expected to provide more clarity for insurers.

According to Willis Towers Watson, the insured losses for business interruption compounded with event calculation in the UK could lead up to $14 billion. In this context, the Association of British Insurers (ABI), told the media that it would “support any process that will provide clarity and certainty for the minority of customers who are disputing whether they should be covered.”

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While Emirates has been eyeing Mexico for quite some time, the carrier had to go through a legal battle to win the flying rights. Emirates will fly to Mexico through Barcelona, Spain.

Yesterday, Emirates flight EK255 departed at 3.30 am local time from Dubai to its destination in Mexico City. The aircraft that flew to Mexico is a newly refurbished two-class Boeing 777-200LR which offers 38 Business Class seats in a 2-2-2 layout, and 264 seats in Economy Class.

The flight carried over 300 passengers, media personnel and a group of VIPs. The high profile delegation that boarded Emirates’ inaugural flight to Mexico includes Salem Obaidalla, Emirates’ senior vice president Commercial Operations for the Americas; Ahmed Hatem Barghash Al Menhali, UAE Ambassador to Mexico, and Francisca Elizabeth Méndez Escobar, Mexican Ambassador to the UAE.

In an interview during the inaugural flight, Salem Obaidalla said, “Emirates is the first Middle East carrier operating from the Middle East to Mexico. After our study, we saw that Mexico was not tapped by any Middle East carrier.”

He added, “We saw the opportunity to go and enter that market and there is a huge business for both passenger and cargo that will add more revenue for our company. And on top of that one, it will link Dubai with Mexico City via Barcelona.”

Two months ago, a Mexican court blocked Emirates from launching its services to Mexico City. In response, Emirates appealed to the Mexican government that earlier gave its approval to the carrier to fly to Mexico City.

However, that was not the only hurdle that the airline has to pass through. Earlier, Emirates planned to fly to Mexico through Zurich, but authorities in Switzerland did not approve of the move.

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New research by Swiss Finance Institute Professor Steven Ongena from the University of Zurich and co-authors Professor Reint Gropp from the Halle Institute for Economic Research and Professor Thomas C. Mosk and Carlo Wix from Goethe University Frankfurt shows that the Basel III reform may be partially effective and may induce banks to reduce their credit exposure to corporate and retail clients.

Zurich, 26 February 2018. Swiss Finance Institute Professor Steven Ongena from the University of Zurich and co-authors: Professor Reint Gropp from the Halle Institute for Economic Research and Professor Thomas C. Mosk and Carlo Wix from Goethe University Frankfurt studied the impact of the 2011 European Banking Authority capital exercise—which unexpectedly required certain banks to increase their regulatory capital ratios—on banks’ balance sheets and the real economy.

Based on this capital exercise, the researchers forecast that the Basel III reform may induce banks to reduce the amount of assets they finance by lowering their credit exposure to corporate and retail clients, but that they will likely not increase their amount of regulatory capital. In this respect, requiring banks to strengthen their regulatory capital instead of the equity ratio might be more effective and thus minimize the negative impact on the real economy.

The full version of the February issue of SFI’s Practitioner Roundups is available at http://sfi.ch/system/tdf/Roundup_Feb18_English_v2.pdf?file=1

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Ms Martin is a proven business leader with a record of meaningful impact, as reflected in her extensive management, financial and commercial experience within the insurance sector. She joins Zurich from Swiss Re, where she was Head of Life & Health Business Management, a role she has held for four years. In her 14 years at Swiss Re, Ms Martin has held a series of senior management positions focused on transformation, commercial business and value creation, including as Head of the Life & Health Products division and as CFO of Swiss Re Life & Health. A qualified accountant, Ms Martin spent eight years in audit and advisory roles at PwC, with a focus on insurance. She earned an LLB Honors degree in Law from the University of Birmingham. In 1998 she qualified with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales as an Associate of the Institute and in 2010 she completed the Chartered Financial Analyst IMC.

Mario Greco, Group Chief Executive Officer said: “Alison represents an impressive blend of business results orientation, financial expertise and people skills. She’s demonstrated that she can grow businesses based on a deep understanding of market dynamics, risk balancing and capital management, and is precisely the type of high-energy executive we were seeking to build on Cecilia’s accomplishments. I look forward to welcoming her to our Executive Committee.

“In her over 16 years with Zurich, Cecilia has made a significant contribution in senior risk, finance and investment roles. In her current position she has successfully managed risks across the Group and, by doing so, has created real opportunities for Zurich to flourish. On behalf of the Board, the Executive Committee and all Zurich employees, I applaud Cecilia for the positive impact she has made on Zurich, and thank her for her commitment to ensuring a smooth transition.”

Ms Martin will join Zurich’s Executive Committee on October 1, 2017 as Group Chief Risk Officer-Designate, and will work closely with Ms Reyes before assuming the Group Chief Risk Officer role on January 1, 2018. The appointment is subject to regulatory approval.

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March 30, 2017: Qumram, a leading global RegTech firm headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland that provides digital compliance and risk management solutions, has announced further investment of 1.5 million Swiss Francs from the technology-focused venture capital firm Mundi Ventures. Headquartered in Madrid, Mundi Ventures has operational presence in Barcelona, London and Seattle.

In addition to providing due diligence support, Mundi Ventures will boost Qumram’s growth strategy by facilitating access to corporate executives, new markets and new customers. Through this investment partnership, Qumram will gain access to the Mundi Club, a global network of more than 500 renowned Spanish business leaders, located in 41 cities worldwide, including board members of Havas, Kering, Merck, Bertelsmann and Nestle, as well as the CEO of Zoetis, and the former CEO of Toys R Us.

Qumram allows all digital activity and interactions (web, social, mobile) to be recorded and replayed in movie-like form, providing a transparent digital audit trail for financial services organisations. It enables global banks, investment and wealth management firms, insurance companies, and other financial institutions, to comply with regulatory requirements for digital record-keeping: MIFID-II, FINRA, SEC, ESMA, FFSA, FIDLEG, the Department of Labor fiduciary rule, and more. It also facilitates fraud detection (monitoring digital behavior of employees as well as interactions from external sources), and delivers actionable customer insights that improve customer experience.

A spokesperson for Mundi Ventures said, “Qumram satisfies the compliance, legal and customer experience analytics needs of large corporations. We talked with existing customers, who confirmed a compelling need for the solution, and who spoke very highly of the Qumram experience. We were impressed by the strength and quality of the Qumram team, the uniqueness of the solution, and the market traction already achieved by the company within the last two years. We very much look forward to contributing to the commercial scalability of Qumram, helping to open doors that will create a solid global business.”

Patrick Barnert, CEO at Qumram, said, “We are delighted to have the backing of Mundi Ventures, as we continue to strengthen our trajectory into new global markets. The wealth of experience and network that this investment partnership brings extends far beyond its financial contribution. With the closing of Mundi Venture funding, and further investment from existing investors in December 2016, Qumram raised a total of 4.1 million Swiss Francs in angel funding last year. These funds are continuously applied to international expansion, with strong focus on the financial services markets of Europe, the UK and USA. Qumram has already gained great traction in the US. Our first client win was Russell Investments, and other financial institutions followed soon after.”

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July 12, 2016: Surf Air, the all-you-can-fly membership club, announced the launch of its European operations, offering unlimited air travel to businesses and consumers for a monthly fee from October onwards.

Travelling aboard a state of the art executive jet, Surf Air routes will include multiple flights between UK’s London Luton Airport, Cannes, Geneva and Zurich. There will also be weekend flights to the likes of Ibiza, with further regular destinations to include the likes of Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam and Barcelona planned to be introduced in 2017.

Members of the service will pay a monthly fee of £2500, which will allow them to fly unlimited between destinations and also offer friends and family guest passes from £750 one way. Booking can be done either online or through an app.

“The whole aim of Surf Air is to combine simplicity and convenience, giving business and leisure travellers across Europe a new way to fly that saves valuable time,” said Simon Talling-Smith, CEO of Surf Air in Europe. “We see our model as the future of air travel and it has been greatly received in the California market since its launch. Our innovative service provides fantastic value to regular travellers not seen elsewhere, and we look forward to expanding our club and delivering a distinctive travel experience to Europe’s top destinations.”

Previously nicknamed the ‘Uber’ or ‘Netflix’ of air travel, this European expansion is a sign of the success Surf Air’s disruptive travel model has brought to the industry. Launched in California in 2013 as the country’s first private membership airline, Surf Air now has 3000 members. With up to 90 daily flights to 13 destinations in and around the state, members are able to enjoy an all-you-can-fly service without the hassle and frustration of commercial travel.

Said Surf Air Chairman, Sudhin Shahani, “We are incredibly excited for the launch of a European business led by highly capable aviation and subscription business veteran Simon Talling-Smith.  This is a great step to further Surf Air’s growth objective of providing a game-changing product for frequent travellers across major business routes globally.”

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April 14, 2016: Deposit Solutions, the first open architecture platform for retail savings deposits and operator of ZINSPILOT, has strengthened its leadership team with Max von Bismarck as Chief Business Officer and Managing Director. Von Bismarck will work alongside founder Dr. Tim Sievers to support him with the international expansion of the firm across the European Union. This announcement follows the recent investment into Deposit Solutions of PayPal co-founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel.

“Our goal is to be the leading platform for the European retail deposit market and we are very excited that we could win Max for our team. His broad leadership experience in international finance, his global perspective and his excellent network will help us to realize our vision”, says Dr. Tim Sievers, founder and CEO of Deposit Solutions. The Hamburg-based FinTech company already partners with multiple banks across Europe and plans to integrate further international partners in the short term. Additionally, the Deposit Solutions retail brand ZINSPILOT, which markets savings offers listed on the platform directly to savers, is planning a Europe-wide rollout within the coming months.

Von Bismarck previously spent 4 years as Partner and CEO Europe for the global alternative investment firm SkyBridge Capital in New York and Zurich. Before that, he was Director and Head of Investors at the World Economic Forum in Geneva and New York. While at SkyBridge Capital, von Bismarck was responsible for SkyBridge’s operations and business development for its flagship fund of funds, seeding and hedge fund advisory services throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.

“As savers are increasingly struggling in the low interest rate environment today, Deposit Solutions and ZINSPILOT offer a unique solution for savers to access attractive interest rates and for banks to access efficient cross-border retail deposit funding. This is good for savers, good for banks and good for Europe as it creates a more efficient market and infrastructure for banks to get access to deposits for their growing credit business. I am thrilled to join a highly innovative FinTech company that is transforming the retail savings landscape in Europe“, says von Bismarck.

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