Political risk losses striking more companies: WTW

Political risk is now garnering more attention as 92% of respondents to a Willis Towers Watson PLC survey reported suffering a political risk loss in the past year, a Willis statement said Tuesday.

The sixth annual political risk survey showed that the number of companies seeing a political risk loss rose sharply, up from 35% of respondents in 2020.

The response was swift and drastic, with 100% of responding companies saying they’ve enhanced their political risk management capabilities since February 2022, while 68% now purchase political risk insurance, compared with 25% in 2019.

The losses are startling, with 86% of Western European respondents reporting a net negative financial impact from the conflict in Ukraine. One U.S. technology company decided to end all operations in Russia and Belarus after suffering a loss of almost $1 billion.

One respondent said the shock of war on the European continent had triggered a “paradigm shift.”

The contagion has spread well beyond Europe, though, with 33% of North American firms responding they have suffered a net negative financial impact and 48% of respondents reporting a direct political risk loss in one or more of the so-called BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China.

For 2023, Ukraine heads the list of interview panel members’ top risks for 2023, followed closely by decoupling from China and crisis and new regulations in the EU.