Many companies in Singapore only act to address business liability risks after they have experienced an incident, according to a study published by global insurer
QBE.
The report, titled “The Risks of Regret”, says that while almost all businesses have some form of cover, such as accident and employee compensation insurance, almost half of the surveyed firms did not have insurance covering business liability.
In the past 12 months, businesses most cited risks were: loss of income due to business interruption (24%); business systems and computer hacking (24%); equipment breakdown (23%); legal, regulatory, or compliance issues (21%); workplace injuries to staff (20%); and customer or payment fraud online (10%).
Among businesses that suffered a major data breach, less than two-thirds of firms took action, which included buying insurance. For firms that were targets of hacking, only half reacted and established control systems, which also includes insurance.
Surprisingly, almost a quarter of businesses surveyed did not take action even after experiencing customer or payment fraud, exposing them to repeat attempts in the future.
“In an increasingly litigious world, with professional liability high on the agenda, there is an obvious concern that Singapore’s companies need to be doing more to protect themselves and their customers,” said Karl Hamann, CEO of QBE Insurance Singapore.
“Quite alarmingly, one in five respondents in Singapore said that having business liability insurance has never really crossed their minds,” he added.
The study covered 300 businesses of various sizes, from small to large, with data collected between March and April 2017.
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