Political risk, cybersecurity, bribery and oil price and financial market fluctuations are among chief concerns for businesses voiced by some of the UK’s leading risk experts as they look ahead to 2017.

“This year is undoubtedly the year where political risk on the global scale will be one to watch,” Nicola Crawford, CFIRM, Chair of the Institute of Risk Management, says. “The effect on markets is unknown with the City of London and the wider stage braced for a hard Brexit, and the fall out of changes to American and European political leaderships.”

She says enterprise risk management has never been higher on the agenda for businesses. “Organisations need to ensure that risk in the boardroom is taken seriously to ensure organisational success and longevity,” she adds.

This year is undoubtedly the year where political risk on the global scale will be one to watch

Factors in both the micro and macro environment should be constantly scanned against a company’s risk register, business continuity plans tested and stress tests conducted – reputational risk is also a major factor and examples of how not to manage this have been widely reported in the media, she says.

Read IRM risk predictions 2017 for views on:

• Flood Risk:
 Paul May, Chairman Concordia Consultancy Ltd, FIRM
• Engineering/Infrastructure Risk: Derek Salkeld, FIRM, Senior Analyst, DS+A Ltd
• Charities/Third Sector: Alyson Pepperill CFIRM ACII, Client Projects Director for Arthur J Gallagher and Chair of the IRM Charities Special Interest Group
• Supply Chain Risk: Carolyn Williams, Director Corporate Relations, IRM
• Psychology and Human Risk: Geoff Trickey, Affiliate member of the IRM, is Managing Director of Psychological Consultancy Ltd
• Cyber Risk growing in the Asia Pacific Region: Saman Bandara, Head of Insurance, and Forensic Consulting Practice (Vietnam,Cambodia and Laos)
• The emergence of social vs. economic risk exposures in Africa:
Joachim A Adenusi MSc CFIRM, Founding Partner – Inspirational Risk (UK)