World Bank Pandemic Bonds - How To Make Money On A Virus!

[Lucius]

For some to profit from someone else's accident and death is normal and it is not a secret, that's what arms, drug or human traffickers do, and we can without any hesitation put them in the category of criminals who will make everything on their way to profit. But what about legal and world-renowned organizations that are supposed to help people and create a better world?

Most have probably heard of the World Bank (probably mostly bad things), but I have to admit, it sounds pretty ugly when you read that they have issued bonds related to the outbreak of the pandemic. The initial idea was that such bonds would help the affected countries, but as it now seems with COVID-2019 only profit will be for those who have invested in such bonds on time.

I will just highlight some of the most interesting parts of the article :

Despite the fact that the so-called pandemic bonds look set to result in a payout to developing countries, critics have said the conditions are too stringent and that investors have already made money on them due to the regular coupon payments they have received on the back of the initial purchase.
Bodo Ellmers, the director of the Global Policy Forum's sustainable development finance program told the Financial Times the instrument was "useless."
"You obviously want to prevent a pandemic but it only pays out when it becomes a pandemic," he said.

According to the PEF, around $75.5 million had been paid to bondholders in the form of premiums as of August 2019. The full amount paid in interest and coupons has not been disclosed. The bonds are set to mature in July 2020.

Even if some developing nations do end up receiving pandemic bond money, it will be a relatively trivial sum when compared with some estimates of the economic damage a sustained coronavirus pandemic would do to developed and developing economies alike.

https://www.dw.com/en/investors-flee-from-controversial-pandemic-bonds-with-coronavirus-set-to-trigger-payout/a-52539926

As you can see in the above, investors have already made quite a lot of money, and they will earn even more, which of course will not even be made public. Those for whom these bonds were supposedly invented will get some dust, maybe ...

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[stompix]

Lucius, it's the opposite  , you don't make money as an investor if a pandemic appears:

If those conditions are triggered, the bonds are not repaid in full and the money is used instead to help tackle the crisis in developing countries.

The less risky tranche of the bonds will not be paid back to investors if there are more than 2,500 deaths in developing countries as a result of a pandemic. Although China has recorded more than this number of deaths, the World Bank does not designate it a developing country.

By far the riskier of the two bonds is "Class B," which sold $95 million in bonds (compared to $225 million for the less risky "Class A," explained above). For Class B, if the disease crosses an international border and if there are at least 20 deaths in that second country, the investors' money will be paid to developing countries dealing with the outbreak.

It's some sort of insurance, just as the loans from FMI act sometimes.
You as a country are agreeing to pay dividends on those bonds so you can make sure you have money ready when it hits you.

For the investor, it's gambling, if everything is fine and no virus comes out, you gain interest, if it does, you're screwed.

[Lucius]

stompix,

According to the PEF, around $75.5 million had been paid to bondholders in the form of premiums as of August 2019. The full amount paid in interest and coupons has not been disclosed. The bonds are set to mature in July 2020.

It is still about making money, because of this above, bondholders have already received the money, you completely left out the fact that them (bondholders) receive " regular coupon payments they have received on the back of the initial purchase.".

It is not only a matter of realizing the conditions of the pandemic and the numbers of the deads, but about how the whole set-up thing is, those who bought the bonds have already made money on them, and will earn even more regardless of the pandemic.

[stompix]

stompix,

It is not only a matter of realizing the conditions of the pandemic and the numbers of the deads, but about how the whole set-up thing is, those who bought the bonds have already made money on them, and will earn even more regardless of the pandemic.

Seems like you don't understand.
They've earned money because there was no pandemic last year, no disease meet the criteria on the bonds.
If there is a pandemic they will lose money as that money will go to the countries affected by the pandemic.

Investors are the ones who want more than anyone that a disease doesn't spread to multiple countries or pass the 2500 death toll.

[415jeremy]

Coronavirus is a classic case of a "black swan" event, so only few people really made profits. Anyway, I don't like the idea of pandemic bonds, it's anti-humanistic.

[abhiseshakana]

Pandemic Bonds (Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility - PEF) is a speculative investment instrument wrapped up in humanitarian action. Bonds are issued under the "risk capital" program because investors bear the risk of losing some or all of their investments in bonds if an epidemic triggers payments to countries that meet the conditions covered by the PEF. Funding to eligible countries will be triggered when the outbreak reaches a predetermined level of transmission, including the number of deaths; the speed of spread of disease; and whether the disease crosses international borders. Determinations for triggers are made based on publicly available data as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO).

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2017/06/28/world-bank-launches-first-ever-pandemic-bonds-to-support-500-million-pandemic-emergency-financing-facility
https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/pandemics/brief/pandemic-emergency-financing-facility

I feel like individual insurance which incidentally has "general terms and conditions and multiple clauses about PEF terms and conditions, I feel it must be tighter with the end of the disbursement of funds being late after the outbreak has spread. So even though the packaging is for solidarity and the humanity of the essence of the PEF is money, speaking of money always speaks of profit and loss, profit and humanity are two different magnetic poles, so it is non-sense.

[fiulpro]

Unfortunately even if the banks do use this strategy , for the long run they do need people , they are not anything by themselves, one can only imagine how hard it would be for them to maintain a market , a healthy economy when there won't be anything to maintain.
Yes the companies , the banks , they are rather work only for the profit but they still have to understand why they exist and for which purpose they exist.
If the mask companies instead of increasing the price strikes down the price by even 0.01 $ , it could help everyone ... People don't see the big picture.

[Averim]

"It is hungry on the ground not because we cannot saturate the poor, but because we cannot saturate the rich!"- Mother Teresa. Certain people are ready to do what ever it takes to gain more and more money dehumanizing them self.

[Hydrogen]

Some claim delta airlines stock was shorted by insiders prior to the 9/11 WTC hijackings. World War I could have ended sooner had war profiteers on one side not sold raw materials to war profiteers on the other side needed to manufacture munitions and other necessary equipment for war to continue. "Merchant of death" war profiteers throughout history who sold munitions openly bragged about profiting from war and bloodshed around the world. Banks have been caught routinely laundering money for drug cartels, human traffickers, terrorist groups and other illicit demographics that thrive off the misery, suffering and pain of humanity, with no real penalty.

All of that is dirty business. Sadly, there wouldn't necessarily be anything particularly new or unusual about it.

Anyone could buy stock in publicly traded companies that manufacture anti AIDs/HIV medication utilized to treat corona virus and potentially profit over the long term. There are already many different ways to do it. Even if its not explicitly advertised as such.

Commercialization of everything is propelled forwards by desperation of average people under conditions where taxation, wealth & wage disparities are high. If we object to these precedents on moral grounds, pursuit of equality could be a decent course of action. Aside from that I'm not certain what our options are. Glamorizing and romantizing serial killers and similar types has been mainstream for so long. That would seem to be the direction ruling elites want to shift public opinion. And so that can be tough to resist or overturn.