Business interruption emerges as top business risk in Singapore

Over 2 in 5 businesses said interruption would have the most impact on their revenues.

Business interruption came out as the top business risk for two in five (43%) firms in Singapore due to the tremendous effect it can have on a business’ revenues, according to the Allianz Risk Barometer report published by Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS).

The report which surveyed 2,415 respondents across 86 countries, of which 200 were from Singapore, found that cyber incidents (41%) such as cyber crime, IT failures and outages, data breaches, and fines and penalties marginally slipped to second place after business interruption emerged as the top risk in Singapore in the 2018 rankings.

It was then followed by natural catastrophes (29%) and new technologies (21%) including the impact of increasing interconnectivity, autonomous vehicles and nanotechnology.

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Rounding off the top five concerns was climate change and the increasing volatility of weather (20%), which surfaced as a new risk for Singapore firms, the report highlighted.

“Businesses across Asia Pacific (APAC) are deeply concerned about the impact of business interruption,” AGCS APAC’s CEO Mark Mitchell said in the report. “The average business interruption property insurance claim is now over $4.62m (EUR3m). As manufacturing shifts east, and with growing frequency of natural catastrophe activity in the region, APAC is increasingly exposed to these losses reflecting the importance for companies to adopt a holistic approach to risk management.”