industry news round-up task force updates guidance on virtual currencies The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has updated its guidance on a risk-based approach to virtual currencies, such as bitcoin units of value that can be transmitted over the internet, but that have no legal-tender status. In 2014, the FTAF identified money-laundering and terroristfinancing risks linked to the anonymity of virtual currency. The updated report suggests that exchangers, who allow conversion between physical and digital currencies, present even greater risks. The FATF is recommending that national financial authorities do a coordinated risk assessment of virtual currency services. A better understanding of their operations will allow mitigating measures for virtual and physical currencies. Countries are also advised to find out about new money value-transfer service technology to develop strategies before it is implemented. Too costly to clean up Chinas toxic soil Accelerated industrial development in China over recent decades has created a toxicity crisis that its own experts say it cant afford to solve. Chinas attempts to address air pollution by moving coal-consuming, polluting factories away from cities can have the perverse effect of fouling air, soil and water close to river sources. Experts have tried to draw attention to this looming environmental crisis for years, but reports the Financial Times only now is the government beginning to grapple with soil pollution. In 2004, gases leeching from an abandoned pesticide park poisoned african insurer plans to increase disaster risk cover for states Leading African Union disaster risk insurer African Risk Capacity (ARC) has announced plans to offer governments insurance to safeguard against loss caused by tropical cyclones and floods. The scheme will come into effect from 31 May next year, with 20-30 African countries looking likely to become part of it over the next four years. ARC was formed in 2012, as an agency of the African Union, to help member states improve their ability to plan, prepare and respond to extreme weather and natural disasters. Lars Thunnell, chairman of ARC, said the insurer had broken new ground in combining science, political ownership and risk-pooling to address catastrophes and food insecurity. He added: This showcases the benefits of African government-led initiatives to build resilience to climate risk. ARC says it is also looking at insuring African states against infectious disease outbreaks. workers digging Songjiazhuang subway station, sparking Chinas first regulations on decontaminating abandoned industrial sites. Now recent incidents, including cyanide contamination caused by the Tianjin blasts, are raising public awareness. Lan Hong, of Renmin Universitys school of environment and natural resources, who is drafting a plan to finance this clean-up, says China cant afford it. She estimates $1.1tn one third of Chinas foreign exchange reserves is needed to solve the problem, using practices developed in the US and Japan. Insurers put regulation top of their risk list Auditor PwC has published results from its Insurance Banana Skins survey, which details risks for insurers in the current climate. Regulation came out top for the third survey running, as fears grow that regulatory reform is loading the industry with costs, while distracting management from running profitable businesses. In a new turn of events, cyber risk has made PwCs top five, ranked for the first time this year. Although this new factor is yet to be fully scoped, insurers are worried about software failure and data security. Anxiety levels among the respondents from 54 countries have reached their highest point since 2007 despite signs of economic growth a reverse of the downward trend observed in 2013. The insurance industry, however, seems better prepared to handle these risks than in 2013. The preparedness score of 3.20 out of 5 is a marked improvement on the 2.95 recorded two years ago. Iranian oil schemes will expose Opec weaknesses Irans plans to increase its crude oil production as soon as sanctions are lifted will put extra focus on Opecs strategy to combat low prices, as well as internal wrangles within the organisation. Many of the problems centre on the fights between Opec members and non-Opec members for market share, while internally, Saudi Arabia and Iraq have speeded up production close to record levels. In turn, Iran has emphasised the importance of its output, with oil minister Bijan Zanganeh saying the country will increase it by 500,000 barrels per day as soon as restrictions are removed, with a further 500,000 barrels per day in the months afterwards. According to Iranian state news agency Shana, Zanganeh said: Iran will take back the market share of more than 1m barrels a day that it lost. In July, Iran signed an agreement with six world powers to curb its nuclear programme in return for the removal of economic sanctions. Irans move comes as crude prices have slumped to the lowest point since the oil crisis began, with Brent at a six-year low of US$42.23 per barrel on 24 August. simplify your password policy, says CPNI Owners of computer systems are being urged to simplify their password-protection policies, after a review by the governments Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI). The report identifies numerous problems with passwords, including password overload and over-complexity. On average, a UK citizen is expected to remember 22 passwords, so they reuse passwords across accounts, increasing vulnerability. System owners are encouraged to update their password policy to combat obvious problems. For instance, password protection should only be used when absolutely necessary to reduce the strain of password overload and discourage insecure practices. They should make more use of account lockout and throttling to limit the number of passwords that can be entered in a given period. These are effective against bruteforce attacks the automated guessing of passwords until the correct one is found.