The establishment of A Club is to bring work-life balance to colleagues and their family members by organizing various social and charity activities.

In the past 40 years, WWF has been serving to encourage and secure the decisions, behaviours and actions which are essential to achieve long-lasting conservation impact and their vision of transforming Hong Kong into Asia’s most sustainable city. On 18 June, our volunteers joined the flag day to show our support to advocate for wetland conservation.

As organized by Aberdeen Caritas Centre, our company volunteers visited the Elderly Homes on 6 Aug to deliver souvenirs of the HKSAR’s 25th anniversary.

Co-organizing with Juventus Fan Club Hong Kong 1897, we have successfully organized 5 free private movie shows of “Warriors of Future” for the grassroots families as invited by Caritas HK. The families have enjoyed the activity with great joy and excitement during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

3 Sept – Tsuen Wan District
11 Sept – Tseung Kwan O District
11 Sept – Tsuen Wan District
12 Sept – Aberdeen District
18 Sept – Ngau Tau Kok District

During the invigorating autumn season, A Club organized a “hiking + BBQ Day” on 12 Nov. Some colleagues have taken the challenge by climbing the Hsien Ku Fung while they have also helped to clean up the beautiful trail. Some other colleagues, on the other hand, enjoyed the sight-seeing and leisure time around Tai Mei Tuk dam area. Finally, we all gathered to enjoy the BBQ fun together.

Since the beginning of this year, the global economy and investment markets have been gloomy. The Russia-Ukraine war, skyrocketing inflation, a series of aggressive interest rate hikes imposed by global central banks, and signs of economic slowdown in China have created extreme volatility in the investment markets. Both global stocks and bonds recorded significant correction at the same time.

Looking back in the past 20 years, we have witnessed several financial crises which were due to various underlying reasons and caused the global stock markets experiencing corrections in different scale.

Among all those crises, the Dot-com bubble happened in early 2000s had undergone the longest correction period. The MSCI World Index plummeted 50% in about 2.5 years before it bottomed out while the U.S. subprime crisis during the period between late 2007 and early 2009 had the deepest correction. The MSCI World Index lost nearly 60% in just over 1 year.

Investment markets are unpredictable; but from a historical perspective, there are always up-and-down markets cycles. Each financial crisis and stock market crash has its own background and investors ultimately lose their confidence every time. However, it may also provide an optimum long-term investment buying opportunity after enormous correction.

When focusing on the performance of the MSCI World Index in the past 20 years, we find that the deeper the market correction, the greater the rebound in the subsequent rising cycle and in average, the MSCI World Index rose about 80%.

The MSCI World index has dropped nearly 30% from its high since the beginning of this year. When the market will bottom out is hard to predict as we do not have a crystal ball. It may depend on various factors including tensions between Russia and Ukraine, inflation, the pace of interest rate hikes of global central banks, and China’s epidemic prevention policy. Volatility is here, but investment opportunity may be ahead. Under current market situation, investors may consider starting a regular investment strategy without guessing the best market timing as well as accumulating more investment positions when market corrections happen. In the future, if investment markets enter upward cycle again, such simple investment strategy may bring an attractive return to investors.

Disclaimer
The information contained is for general information only, without warranty of any kind. The information contained should not be regarded as an offer to sell, to subscription, or to provide any investment recommendation. Investment involves risks, past performance is not indicative of future performance. Readers should consult their professional financial consultant before making any investment decision.

Investment Services Department

With the implementation of the "0+3" quarantine arrangement by the Hong Kong Government on 26 Sept, coupled with the record low currency exchange rates from many countries, many HK people could not wait to travel aboard after 3 years of isolation. Instantly, there’s a huge network congestion for online air-tickets exchange and hotels booking while the application for international driving license has also increased rapidly. The busy customer flow at the departure hall of the airport has resumed!

After confirming your itinerary and bookings, please remember to purchase a travel insurance since some of the coverages will take immediate effect once the policy is put in force, such as trip cancellation due to weather changes. Furthermore, the most critical consideration in selecting travel insurance these days are probably the extended coverages of COVID-19 infection. The following summary might give you some useful hints:

1. Pre-trip

- Whether there is compensation for unrecoverable prepaid and unused transportation or accommodation expenses in case of trip cancellation due to:

♦ you or your travel companion has been diagnosed with COVID-19;
♦ you are required to undergo mandatory quarantine;
♦ your residential building is under restriction-testing declaration

2. During the trip

- If you are diagnosed with COVID-19, are you entitled to the following coverages?

♦ overseas medical expenses;
♦ additional hospital cash;
♦ quarantine cash allowance;
♦ reimbursement of unrecoverable prepaid and unused transportation and accommodation expenses if you have to re-arrange your itinerary;
♦ automatic extension of insurance policy period

3. Post-trip

- Whether the following benefits are being entitled if you are diagnosed with COVID-19 after returning to Hong Kong
♦ quarantine cash allowances;
♦ follow-up medical expenses

Please be aware that occasionally there is a waiting period for the above coverages. Generally speaking, the extended COVID-19 coverages are only available for passengers who fulfill the vaccination prerequisite of Hong Kong or destination countries. Therefore, please pay attention to relevant regulations before your departure.

Of course, it is also wise to compare the following coverages and terms when buying travel insurance:
♦ baggage/personal effects protection;
♦ accident and medical benefits;
♦ personal liability;
♦ high-risk activities;
♦ travel delays;
♦ worldwide emergency assistance service

A single-journey travel insurance usually provides protection for as long as 180 days of travel. If you are a frequent traveler, you might consider joining an annual plan; yet the protection period of each journey generally can only be covered no more than 90 days while the departure and arrival should be taken place in Hong Kong. If you plan to travel with your family or friends, you should also pay attention to the upper insured age limit and scope of coverages for the elderly as well as whether any group discount is entitled.

The terms, conditions and exclusions of different travel insurance plans vary and please consult your professional financial consultant for more details when you plan for your next trip.

Have a safe and happy trip ahead!!