WEBWIRE – Friday, February 18, 2022
Should the worst happen, customers can register their claim online 24/7. -Kelly Whittington, director of property and speciality claims at Aviva
With storm warnings in place for many parts of the UK this week, Aviva is advising residents and business owners to carry out checks to their properties to help prevent damage. The insurer is also encouraging motorists to take extra precautions if they need to travel.
According to Aviva* research, almost a quarter of UK residents (23%) – equivalent to 6.4 million households** – have previously experienced damage to their homes due to extreme weather, with a third of UK residents (31%) concerned about potential damage to their homes during winter.
Kelly Whittington, director of property and speciality claims at Aviva said: Storm Eunice is due to bring very strong winds to many parts of the UK, with some areas expected to experience gusts of up to 90 mph. The impact is expected to be widespread, affecting thousands of people across England and Wales.
If its safe to do so, wed urge people to check their properties and take preventative steps as soon as possible, to help minimise any damage the storms may cause. Wed also urge people to consider their travel plans this week and only make journeys which are absolutely necessary when the storms arrive.
Should the worst happen, customers can register their claim online 24/7, and our claims teams are on standby and ready to help people whose homes, businesses or vehicles have suffered weather-related damage.
Aviva customers wishing to make a claim can register their claim online at www.aviva.co.uk/help-and-support/claims
Aviva has put together the following advice to help people protect their properties and vehicles.
Before the storm if it is safe to do so:
- Check your roof: Look for loose or missing tiles, crumbling pointing or any other signs of damage. Also ensure any television aerials and satellite dishes are securely attached.
- Secure your fence: Make sure fence panels are fixed in place and garden gates are in good working order, to avoid panels flying away or gates swinging wildly in the wind.
- Remove hazardous branches: Cut down loose or overhanging branches in your garden, particularly those close to windows or power lines. But be careful: some trees are safeguarded and cannot be removed. Check with your local planning authority if youre unsure whether a tree can be cut.
- Keep gutters clear of moss and leaves: If your gutters overflow during a downpour, its time to give them a good clean. Remember to make sure theyre securely fixed in place once youve finished.
Professionals perform the above jobs for a reason. So if a task involves climbing up a ladder or working near power lines, be sure to get expert help.
When a storms approaching: home
- Secure garden furniture: Put away ladders, garden furniture, childrens toys or anything else that strong winds could send hurling around.
- Park vehicles in a garage: If you have a garage, use it. If you dont have one, try to park well away from trees, walls or fences that could fall in the face of strong winds.
- Close and fasten doors and windows: Dont forget to secure less frequently used entrances, like loft trapdoors.
- Keep pets indoors: Make sure pets are protected and small outside pets are brought indoors.
- Prepare a storm emergency kit: Be prepared just in case you need to leave your home in the midst of the storm. Pack warm clothes, medicines, a torch and batteries.
- Its also a good idea to ensure your home insurance documents are easily accessible, just in case you need to contact your insurer.
When a storms approaching: motor
- Plan your travels: If you are planning a trip in the next few days, consider whether you need to travel this week or whether you can reschedule your plans.
- If you do need to go out, make sure your car is equipped:
- Ensure you have enough fuel for your journey or your EV battery is charged. Vehicles use more fuel in heavy traffic and stop / start conditions and you may need to re-route your journey.
- Take a mobile phone with you and check the battery is fully charged.
- Pack a blanket, waterproof clothing and sturdy shoes, food and drink for you and your passengers, in case you get stranded or delayed.
- Be suitably equipped for an emergency – a shovel, heavy-duty jump leads, a tow rope, first aid kit, torch, spare fuel can, warning triangle and a fire extinguisher are all useful to keep in your car.
- When driving in poor weather, put your lights on and leave more room between you and the vehicle in front and allow more time for braking and accelerating.
During the storm
Once the storm hits, stay indoors as much as possible. Only head outside when its essential and only drive if your journey is absolutely necessary.
If you do hear something in your home break, dont try to repair damage while the storms still in progress. Property can be repaired, but its more important to stay safe.
After the storm
If your home or belongings have been damaged, contact your insurer as soon as possible and let them know whats happened.
List any damage to your property and dont throw anything away in case its needed for the claims process. Its also a good idea to photograph or video the damage.
While you wait for the professionals to take care of any significant repairs, there are several things you can do to start the clean up once its safe to do so:
- Use a plastic sheet to temporarily patch up damaged parts of your home that you can get to safely and easily.
- You may wish to get a quote from a local tradesperson for repairs, for your insurer to review. This can sometimes be the quickest option during major weather events when lots of people are making claims.
- Check in on vulnerable neighbours or relatives and help them make any arrangements for repairs.
- Remember to keep clear of electrical or telephone cables that have been blown down or are hanging loose
Notes:
Source: Study of 2,000 UK adults, carried out by Censuswide Research on behalf of Aviva, September 2020.
** Based on 27.8 million UK households (ONS).
###
- For information on how Aviva is helping our people, customers and communities impacted by COVID-19 visit: www.aviva.com/covid-19-our-response/
- We exist to be with people when it really matters, throughout their lives. We have been taking care of people for 325 years, in line with our purpose of being with you today, for a better tomorrow. In 2020, we paid £30.6 billion in claims and benefits to our customers.
- Aviva is invested in our people, our customers, our communities and our planet. In 2021, we announced our plan to become a Net Zero carbon emissions company by 2040, the first major insurance company in the world to do so. This plan means Net Zero carbon emissions from our investments by 2040; setting out a clear pathway to get there with a cut of 25% in the carbon intensity of our investments by 2025 and of 60% by 2030; and Net Zero carbon emissions from our own operations and supply chain by 2030. Aviva has been leading this agenda for decades: Aviva was the first international insurer to go operationally carbon neutral in 2006 and we are champions of renewable energy and energy storage at our offices, allowing us to achieve our 2030 carbon reduction target (70% reduction on 2010 levels) 10 years early. Find out more about our climate goals at www.aviva.com/climate-goals and our sustainability ambition at www.aviva.com/sustainability.
- Aviva is a Living Wage and Living Hours employer and provides market-leading benefits for our people, including flexible working, paid carers leave and equal parental leave. Find out more at https://www.aviva.com/about-us/our-people/
- We are focused on the UK, Ireland and Canada where we have leading market positions and significant potential. We will invest for growth in these markets. We will also transform our performance and improve our efficiency. Our transformation will be underpinned by managing our balance sheet prudently, reducing debt and increasing our financial resilience. We also have strategic investments in Singapore, China and India.
- At 30 June 2021, total Group assets under management at Aviva Group are £522 billion and our Solvency II shareholder capital surplus is £12 billion. Our shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and we are a member of the FTSE 100 index.
- For more details on what we do, our business and how we help our customers, visit www.aviva.com/about-us
Dec 17, 2021 | Business
NEC Corporation (TSE: 6701) today announced the development of a secure biometric authentication technology that allows users to authenticate themselves with encrypted face information. This technology reduces the risk of misuse if face information is leaked and contributes to the expansion of safe and secure biometric authentication use cases.
With the application of this technology, all face information handled by service providers is encrypted. Therefore, even if encrypted face information is leaked, the risk of being misused for spoofing is low. Moreover, since users have a secret key for decryption, service providers cannot decrypt face information, enabling users to take advantage of the face recognition service with peace of mind.
Face recognition is increasingly being introduced as a means of identity verification, but in the unlikely event that registered face information is leaked, it may lead to misuse, such as spoofing. As a result, greater attention is being paid to technologies that perform biometric authentication while encrypting information, such as face information. Specifically, homomorphic encryption(1) is known to perform authentication processing while biometric features are encrypted, and without deteriorating the accuracy of certification.
However, homomorphic encryption can only perform simple operations, and processing speed is greatly reduced when performing the complex processing required by biometric authentication. As a result, it has been limited to “1:1 Identification,” which is used for logging into online services with relatively light processing. Conversely, the method has been difficult to apply for “1:N Identification,” such as facility entry control and transaction settlements, which require greater processing speed.
In order to overcome this challenge, NEC developed a secure biometric authentication technology that can be applied to 1:N Identification by streamlining the processing of face recognition using homomorphic encryption.
Conventionally, 1:N Identification has required authentication processing that includes complex arithmetic operations that are difficult for homomorphic encryption. However, this technology reduces processing by focusing on promising candidates through simple operations, rather than processing all registered users. This narrowing down greatly reduces the number of authentication operations, including complex operations, so that 1:N Identification can be performed at high speed, even with homomorphic encryption.
With 1:N Identification for 10,000 registered users, for example, NEC’s new technology can narrow down the number of user candidates in about 0.01 seconds. If the system narrows down the number of candidates to about 1% of the total number, it can perform face authentication processing in a speed of about 1 second.
In addition, the use of this technology does not impact the accuracy of certification.
Going forward, NEC will further develop this technology combined with Bio-IDiom(2), the company’s portfolio of biometric authentication technologies, in order to enhance the safety and security of personal information, entrance control, transaction settlements and more.
(1) Homomorphic Encryption
Cryptographic technology that can perform operations such as addition and multiplication while encrypting data
(2) Bio-IDiom
https://www.nec.com/en/global/solutions/biometrics/index.html
About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation has established itself as a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies while promoting the brand statement of “Orchestrating a brighter world.” NEC enables businesses and communities to adapt to rapid changes taking place in both society and the market as it provides for the social values of safety, security, fairness and efficiency to promote a more sustainable world where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential. For more information, visit NEC at https://www.nec.com.
Copyright ©2021 JCN Newswire. All rights reserved. A division of Japan Corporate News Network.
May 22, 2021 | Business
SAN GWANN, MALTA, 21 May 2021, ZEXPRWIRE, Businesses are constantly looking to increase their revenue, and one way is to add cryptocurrencies. Many people are using cryptocurrencies, and it has become a must-have for online stores and eCommerce platforms.
RemiBit is one of the best-known solutions that offer customers comprehensive crypto payment services. It is a non-custodial blockchain payment solution that can be integrated within minutes and has a beginner-friendly interface.
Merchants and enterprise solution
RemiBit allows freelancers, businesses and individuals to send, receive, exchange, store and accept crypto payments via a safe and cost-effective platform. It offers more than just an additional payment option and features different options to help online businesses run smoothly.
Merchants can prepare invoices and send them for payment while tracking the entire process on their dashboard. It also offers a non-custodial wallet that provides customers complete control of their funds, hence the company’s motto, ‘’Your keys, your crypto”.
RemiBit is also ideal for merchants that want multi-token payment options as it supports eight cryptocurrencies. So customers can accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether USD (ERC20), Litecoin, Zcash, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, and Commercium payments.
RemiBit offers solutions for Merchants and Enterprises. Merchants can integrate the RemiBit crypto payments solution by installing plugins and extensions on existing online stores like Drupal Commerce, Magento, PrestaShop, WooCommerce, Zencart and more.
Custom-made e-commerce stores can also integrate the RemiBit API with a few steps and have a fully functional crypto payment system setup. At the same time, there is an exchange integration with Kraken that enables merchants to exchange their crypto payments to fiat. You can perform exchange transactions manually or automatically, and there is an InstaSell™ option for one-click deposit and sell operations.
Other unique features include the Point of Sale application (POS). The POS is an optimized web-based application that can be used on desktop and mobile devices. It comes with an inbuilt calculator that displays the coins accepted by the merchant, allows to type the fiat price and displays that price converted to any of the cryptocurrencies. When a customer chooses to use the service, a QR code is generated. The customer can scan the QR code to pay for the goods or services using a mobile wallet. The POS offers an easy way for physical shops to accept crypto payments.
Business to Business (B2B) transactions using cryptocurrencies have begun to gain ground, and RemiBit provides a full-fledged feature for this service. Using RemiBit Direct, businesses registered on RemiBit can make cheap and fast transactions within the platform via their RemiBit ID.
How to Setup a RemiBit Account
RemiBit registration is pretty straightforward, and here is a short guide on how to set up an account.
Sign up on the website and register your business with an email address and password. A form will be presented to fill in additional details like your business website, address and other information.
Once you get verified, you automatically access the Starter tier that provides basic features and a €500 monthly allowance on sales. Your business will start paying fees only above this allowance threshold. The Starter tier is free, but you can choose to upgrade to Advanced (€19 monthly) or Pro tier (€39) for more features and lower fee rates.
The next step is to create the RemiBit Wallet as it enables you to use other features effectively. Creating the wallet is straightforward, and all that is required is to open the wallet tab and fill in the registration details correctly. Since RemiBit Wallet is non-custodial, it is essential to note down your pin and login details. This is because if you lose the details, you won’t be able to access the wallet and RemiBit won’t be able to recover it for you.
After creating the wallet, you will be required to integrate it into the merchant app. Click on the settings tab, select Wallet Integration, select the crypto to accept, and click ‘’Integrate Wallet’’. You will be redirected to a new box to fill in the wallet details like password and pin, and the integration process is completed.
After this phase, merchants can utilize the full features of RemiBit and set up invoices for payments.
Why Choose RemiBit?
Low transaction fees: RemiBit offers some of the lowest commission rates in the market, starting as low as 1% for the Starter tier to 0.5% for the Pro tier. It also offers crypto/crypto and crypto/fiat exchange for merchants.
Secure platform: Merchants can also rest assured that their funds are safe with the non-custodial wallet. There is also a 2-factor authentication mechanism and API key permission function in the Advanced and Pro tiers.
Mobile app option: RemiBit offers a web app, and it is well optimized for mobile devices. There are dedicated mobile apps available on the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
Conclusion
RemiBit is a project that is an excellent choice for businesses that have a global presence and want to support crypto payments. The platform is on the right track to becoming the leading blockchain payment solution. If you are looking for a way to adopt crypto payments for your business, open an account today. To learn more about RemiBit, visit its website.