The top 10 risks identified in the StrategicRISK Asia Risk Report benchmark survey have been revealed at the Pan-Asia Risk & Insurance Management Association’s (PARIMA) inaugural risk management conference being held in Singapore this week.

The number one risk as voted by more than 100 of the region’s top corporate risk and insurance managers is ‘economic conditions in key economies’, with ‘people risk, talent and retention’ in second place and, in third, ‘damage to company reputation/brand’.

These are followed by: ‘international competition’; ‘tightening and changing regulation’; ‘political risk’; ‘price of materials/commodities’; ‘loss of customer/critical data’; ‘cyber attack’; and ‘pandemic’.

Singapore-based governance and risk manager Eric Lee (pictured) told StrategicRISK that the number one risk highlighted that “macroeconomic risk affected all companies whether they were operating locally or across borders”.

“[These are] further affected by the integration of modern supply chains, which normally span multiple countries,” Lee said. “For example, sluggish growth in EU translated into slower growth in China.”

Lee said risk managers needed to be aware of the larger economic changes and how these would impact the strategy of their business. He also highlighted the interconnectivity of risks, adding that “seemingly unrelated events can now pose a potential threat to organisations, exposing them to a plethora of new risks”.

“[The question is] how to be diligent and proactive in monitoring the key markets of suppliers and customers to stay ahead of the curve?” Lee added.

The StrategicRISK Asia Risk Report benchmark survey is sponsored by Zurich Insurance and supported by PARIMA. It provides risk and insurance managers with comparative data and additional material to allow them to benchmark their roles, internal risk function, risk priorities and salaries with others in the profession.

The survey identifies alternative career paths into corporate risk management in the Asia-Pacific region; compares the level of experience and qualifications among risk managers; measures the scope of the risk management function across the region; and creates a salary benchmark for the region’s risk profession.

It also reveals the risks that industry practitioners think are most likely to impact their business, and which of these would have the biggest financial impact if they were to occur.