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LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--92% 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’, published today, is the latest in its series of EMEA Risk Briefings examining new and emerging risks. It reveals that while 81% 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% 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% 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% of companies feel inadequately covered for reputational risk from an insurance perspective.
• 56% of companies say social media has greatly exacerbated the potential for reputational risk to affect their business.

The report also proposes a number of solutions to adopt, including:

• Companies need a clear framework for managing reputational risk. Effective management of ‘traditional risks’ will help avoid reputational events, and management teams need to put in place a culture and instil a risk appetite across the company that will reduce the potential for crises to emerge in the first place. In addition, taking a multi-disciplinary approach that involves the CEO, PR specialists and other business leaders will also help to build the broader perspective that is necessary for identifying and managing less obvious reputational risks.
• Companies should work harder at measuring how their reputation is perceived. Understanding perceptions of key stakeholders, their interplay and their impact on corporate reputation, is essential for tracking and managing reputational risk effectively. Companies must ensure that they are collecting an “outside-in” perspective to complement their own internal perspective.
• Companies should sharpen up their crisis management plans to keep pace with today’s faster-moving world. Our research suggests that many companies may be over-confident in their abilities to respond to a crisis. Regular review and testing – including the incorporation of social media scenarios – will allow a faster response when disaster strikes.
• The insurance market can do more to help companies manage reputational risk. This includes the provision of more holistic solutions that include crisis response assistance. It also includes helping companies to take a ‘reputational lens’ to more traditional risks to evaluate the reputational consequences in each case.

Andrew Kendrick, President, ACE European Group, said:

“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 globalisation 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.

“Insurance is not a panacea for the fast-evolving world of reputational risk. Nevertheless, I believe there is much that insurers and brokers can do collectively to help their clients. This includes the evolution of new more holistic insurance solutions that involve the input of crisis and PR specialists. More generally, professional risk engineering can help to improve risk management processes and governance, allowing clients to manage the more ‘traditional risks’ better and reducing the likelihood of a reputational event in the first place.”

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

ENDS

About ACE:

The ACE Group is one of the world’s largest multiline property and casualty insurers. With operations in 53 countries, ACE provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. ACE Limited, the parent company of the ACE Group, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ACE) and is a component of the S&P 500 index.

Notes to editors:

The research for ACE was carried out between April and June 2013 by Longitude Research, who spoke to 650 risk managers, CROs, CFOs, COOs and other executives responsible for buying insurance from companies with turnover of US$250 million+ in 15 countries.

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