We are delighted to announce that the Business Continuity Awards 2016 are open for entries. Now in its 18th year, the awards recognise those business continuity, security, resilience and risk professionals whose innovative strategies and industry savvy make them stand out above the rest.

Business interruption now typically accounts for a much higher proportion of the overall loss than was the case 10 years ago, according to data from Allianz. The average large BI property insurance claim is now in excess of €2m (€2.2m: US $2.4m), which is 36% higher than the corresponding average property damage claim of just over €1.6m.

Despite multiple warnings about the consequences of failing to have a robust disaster recovery plan in place, a new study suggests that only about a third of companies test their disaster recovery plans on a regular basis. Of the sample surveyed by Kroll Ontrack across the UK and Germany, only 9% of companies said they test their plans every one to five months and another 29% every six to 12 months.

The UK Defence Club, provider of FD&D (legal costs) insurance to the maritime industry, has announced that there will be no change to its premiums for the 2016 policy year, the second consecutive zero premium increase. The organisation, managed by Thomas Miller, has cited its financial strength as enabling it to freeze premiums, and the Club will also continue its Continuity Credits loyalty scheme, rewarding Members with premium reductions.

Ineffective management of supply chains is leaving organisations open to severe disruptions and the high financial costs incurred as a result. Nearly one in ten organisations are not aware of who their key suppliers are, leaving them open to severe disruption as they are unable to manage their supply chain effectively. This is according to a report published this week by the Business Continuity Institute.

New research suggests highlights some worrying trends in business continuity among SMEs. The study shows that just 27% of small businesses have a business continuity plan in place, compared to 68% of medium organisations and 75% of large organisations. Worse still, 73% of SMEs questioned admitted they had not tested their plan in the last 12 months, with nearly half not planning to within the next year.

The risk of organisations breaching international human rights regulations has risen significantly over the last quarter as key Asian economies adapt to tougher economic conditions. Rising labour costs in China have led companies to diversify their supply chains into other high-risk countries such as Vietnam, especially for electronics, apparel and footwear.

Phoenix has today launched its active Archive as a Service (AaaS) offering, the UK’s first interactive cloud-based archive service to also be fully integrated into Phoenix’s IT Disaster Recovery as a Service offering. The active Archive as a Service will provide organisations of all sizes, with a resilient and economic data storage solution that also remains fully accessible and available for users to search, access and retrieve their archived data.

Flood modelling specialist JBA Risk Management has been commissioned by Flood Re broker Guy Carpenter to develop a probabilistic loss model for flooding in the UK. The model, likely to be completed later this year, will be used to draw a more complete and sophisticated picture of the risk being underwritten by Flood Re, the flood reinsurance fund being created to provide affordable domestic flood cover in high-risk areas.

As uncertainty rises over the potential for Greece to exit from the euro currency, the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) has reissued its guidance and a model clause relating to the withdrawal of a country from the eurozone. The association’s aim is to minimise risks in the event of an exit by encouraging policyholders and carriers to include appropriate clauses in order to safeguard their intentions.

The winners of the 2015 Business Continuity Awards were announced last night at a Gala Dinner hosted by comedian Josh Widdicombe at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London's Park Lane. A full review of the most celebrated event in the industry calendar will be published in the July issue of CIR Magazine. In the meantime, our worthy winners are as follows. Congratulations to everyone shortlisted, and particularly to...

Terrorist attacks pose an extreme risk to populations and business in the capital cities of 12 countries, including in the strategic markets of Egypt, Israel, Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan, according to new research released by global risk analytics company Verisk Maplecroft, which assesses 1,300 of the world’s most important commercial hubs and urban centres.

Although all London councils have disaster recovery procedures in place, nearly half of them (40%) have not tested them in the last 12 months, according to an FOI request from Databarracks. The FOI requests were sent to all London boroughs, the majority of which obliged with details on their business continuity practices, specifically in relation to electoral data. Managing director of Databarracks, Peter Groucutt, says that 40% is an alarmingly high number to have forgone testing, especially considering the election later this week:

Rapid economic growth in emerging economies, labour disruptions, political instability and a disease outbreak in West Africa led to a rise in business losses in 2014 according to the latest Global Supply Chain Intelligence report from BSI Supply Chain Solutions. Globally over US$23 billion was lost to cargo theft in 2014 from a variety of supply chain threats, while the four most economically damaging natural disasters caused a collective US$32.8 billion of damage. Within Europe, trade interruption due to an array of strikes throughout Europe caused US$1.5 billion of direct losses to business.

Netwrix has announced that its Netwrix Auditor for Active Directory is available for free to small businesses with no more than 100 user accounts, if downloaded during April 2015. The Netwrix solution – valued at over £800.00 – helps to detect security incidents and prevent data breaches, enables continuous compliance and optimises operations by providing complete visibility into all Active Directory and Group Policy changes.