Reputation the Hardest Risk to Manage According to New ACE Research

92 percent of companies believe that reputational risk is the most challenging category of risk to manage, according to a major new study from ACE Group conducted across 15 countries within its EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region.

ACE’s report, ‘Reputation at Risk’, is the latest in its series of EMEA Risk Briefings examining new and emerging risks. It reveals that while 81 percent of companies in the survey see reputation as their most significant asset, most of them admit that they struggle to protect it and identifies a number of key reasons why companies in the region often find reputational risk challenging to manage:

• 77 percent of companies find it difficult to quantify the financial impact of reputational risk on their business, making it harder to measure than traditional, more tangible risks.
• 68 percent of companies believe information and advice about how to manage reputational risk is hard to find, compounding the sense of uncertainty and confusion about how best to manage it.
• 66 percent of companies feel inadequately covered for reputational risk from an insurance perspective.
• 56 percent of companies say social media has greatly exacerbated the potential for reputational risk to affect their business.

“Reputational risk can be difficult to predict. However, some clear pointers emerge from our research as to the source of companies’ key worries. One of these is the globalization of business, with complex supply chains, expansion into new markets and the challenge of maintaining consistent standards across multiple borders all giving cause for concern. The other noticeable theme is regulation. Post-crisis, compliance has taken on a new importance and businesses of all shapes and sizes are more keenly aware of its relationship to their corporate reputation,” said Andrew Kendrick, president, ACE European Group.

To view the full report ‘Reputation at Risk’ along with ‘top ten tips’ for managing reputational risk, please visit www.acegroup.com/eu

Source: Ace Group