A trio of COVID-19-related risks top the 10th Allianz Risk Barometer 2021, reflecting potential disruption and loss scenarios companies are facing in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Cyber incidents (#1 with 41% responses), pandemic outbreak (#2 with 39%) and business interruption (#3 with 38%) skyrocketed to the top three business risks in Asia Pacific, followed by natural catastrophes (#4 with 27% ) rounding out the key issues in the region.
As expected, changes in legislation and regulation (#5 with 22%) also kept its place among the top five Asia Pacific risks in 2021 for the third consecutive year.
This was largely due to the several elections and change in leaderships that took place across the region in Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea and Malaysia, as well as the broader implications on supply chains as a result of China’s trade wars and greater uncertainty brought on by governments introducing tough lock down measures.
“Companies and even entire sectors have suffered large business interruption events as a result of the pandemic of 2020 and it’s the largest catastrophic event to hit a modern, globalised and interconnected economy,” commented Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) Asia-Pacific managing director Mark Mitchell.
“The pandemic has demonstrated just how vulnerable the world and businesses have become too unpredictable multi-country events and this has forever changed the risk landscape for clients and society more generally.”
The annual survey on global business risks from AGCS incorporates the views of 2,769 experts in 92 countries and territories, including CEOs, risk managers, brokers and insurance experts.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has not only changed our society, but has also fundamentally changed the way businesses operate, especially the acceleration towards greater digitalisation driven by more companies working remotely,” observed Mitchell.
“Our hope is that businesses and clients can learn from their experiences in 2020 and make sure they have in place measures which will reduce the impact of similar events in the future.” – Jan 19, 2021
