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Mental Health Matters

  Mental health and wellness are essential to overall health. The World Health Organization defines health as “… a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.   For all of us, our mental, physical, and social health are interdependent. Consider the links between chronic disease and depression. Individuals who suffer from a chronic condition such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes have a greater risk of developing a mental disorder such as depression. Individuals with depression have a greater risk of developing chronic diseases such as cancer.The issue of comorbidity—the simultaneous occurrence of two or more conditions or diseases—is gaining interest. Furthermore, recent research indicated that obese individuals have a significantly increased risk for developing a mood, anxiety, personality, and alcohol risk disorder.In this survey of 41,000 adults, the elevated risk applied to both men and women.In turn, individuals who are depressed may be more likely...
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How to take a walk

  How to Take a Walk                                                                                                                                     How to take a walk|Building a Better Today Whatever your workday looks like, odds are you could use an occasional break. Learn how to make the most of a midday stroll. Forget your phone.  Leaving your screen behind will give your eyes a much-needed rest. Though scrolling through social media may seem like a reward for a productive morning, it will ultimately diminish your ability to be present on your walk Take in your surroundings.   Minus your tech and...
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Emotional Intelligence

  Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions. Some researchers suggest that Emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened, while others claim it's an inborn characteristic : The ability to express and control emotions is essential, but so is the ability to understand, interpret, and respond to the emotions of others. Imagine a world in which you could not understand when a friend was feeling sad or when a co-worker was angry.  Psychologists refer to this ability as  Emotional intelligence , and some experts even suggest that it can be more important than IQ in your overall success in life. A number of different assessments have emerged to measure levels of emotional intelligence. Such tests generally fall into one of two types: self-report tests and ability tests. Self-report tests are the most common because they are the easiest to administer and score. On such tests, respondents respon...
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4 Useful And New WhatsApp Features That Released During The COVID-19 Lockdown

  WhatsApp is one of the worlds largest online texting applications which is used almost in every country.  It is a light and easy to use texting application which also offers a lot of other important utilities other than texting.  These include video calling, group video calling, digital payments, document and media sharing and location sharing.  What began as a simple texting application is now an indispensable part of our lives because WhatsApp has made information flow faster and safer.  WhatsApp   web kept scaling new heights time and again and this was possible only because of the constant innovation by the developer team. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic which forced entire countries to go into lockdown and shut down businesses, WhatsApp is doing its part to help people during these times by rolling out some nifty and important features. Group video call limit increased  WhatsApp had the facility for group video calls which could only accom...
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Preserving Banks' Credit Portfolio amid the COVID-19 Crisis

  Historically, there have been many black swan events across the globe, such as the dot-com bubble, the bird flu outbreak, the 2008-09 financial crisis, and so on, with wide-ranging economic impacts.  The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest such phenomenon to have engulfed the entire world, resulting in a worldwide health crisis and bringing the global economy to a near standstill.  As of this writing, the WTO has estimated that global trade could plunge by a third. Just like its peers, the financial services industry is grappling with severe challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis.  Banks’ lending business has been heavily disrupted, and their risk function is being tested to the hilt. In the near term, we expect an upsurge in loan defaults because of which there will be a spike in non-performing assets.  Decrease in collateral values will trigger a call for new margins. Defaults and downfall in business will force credit rating agencies to downgrade customer rati...
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Using Technology to Dodge the Shell Company Fraud

  During the Panama Papers episode, it was found that some of the Mossack Fonseca shell corporations were used for illegal purposes, including fraud, tax evasion, and dodging international sanctions.  The incident also highlighted the use of shell companies in facilitating high level financial crime. The scale of the episode was a shock as was the detail and meticulous planning it took to set this off using shell companies. A shell company is an inactive establishment used as a vehicle for probable financial crimes or kept dormant for future use in some other capacity.  This company only exists only on paper and has no brick and mortar presence or employees.  Identifying a shell company has been a constant struggle for the financial institutions and the approach has been evolving over the past years. In addition to using a shell firm, there is also widespread use of mirror trades in financial crime.  A combination of shell companies and mirror trades originating...
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Remote Working: Mitigating Risks, Improving Productivity

  Business as usual for organizations the world over has been marred by these extraordinary times. An unprecedented crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has divided our timeline into pre and post COVID eras.  Some of the business practices that have been prevalent until now may cease to exist or get an upgrade in the post COVID times. Business Continuity Planning: A Change in Approach Ever since 9/11, business continuity planning (BCP) has been an integral part of businesses across industries, especially in the banking and financial services sector. Split or multi-site processing, hot-warm-cold sites, work transfer, and staff transfer were some of the recovery strategies put in place to handle exigencies on ‘off’ days.  Although tested periodically for operational effectiveness, these strategies could not replicate the surprise – in fact, shock – element of real-world contingencies. After having delivered effective results for more than a decade, some events of significant propo...
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