Businesses face new challenges from a rise of disruptive scenarios in an increasingly interconnected corporate environment, according to the fourth Allianz Risk Barometer 2015. In addition, globally traditional industrial risks such as business interruption and supply chain risk (46% of responses), natural catastrophes (30%), and fire and explosion (27%) continue to concern risk experts, heading this year’s rankings. Cyber (17%) and political risks (11%) are the most significant movers. The survey was conducted among more than 500 risk managers and corporate insurance experts from both Allianz and global businesses in 47 countries.

Ecuador's largest private bank, Banco Pichincha, is deploying MetricStream’s cloud-based solution for business continuity management to help minimise the impact of business disruptions as well as aid in crisis and incident management planning by streamlining and automating the BCM lifecycle. It will also provide an integrated framework to collaboratively manage all BCM processes, including BIA, business continuity planning, testing of plans, and issue management and remediation. The solution will be rolled out in Spanish to support local users.

The UK government’s first ever long-term flood defence investment programme has been announced, designed to protect over 300,000 properties, reduce flood risk by 5% and save the economy £2.7bn by 2021. The six year plan, the government says, will cost £2.3bn.

Businesses need to be aware how much damage the ‘fear multiplier’ from deadly diseases such as Ebola and emerging infectious diseases could cause them, the Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies warns.

Business standards organisation, BSI has published BS 65000 Guidance for Organisational Resilience, designed to provide an overview of resilience, describing the foundations required and explaining how to build resilience. BS 65000 provides guidance on achieving enhanced organisational resilience and articulates the benefits of doing so. Currently, standards exist within the crisis management and business continuity management arenas which impact on the overall governance of an organisation. This standard can help to enhance these practices by integration of the disciplines that are essential for resilience. BS 65000 references other activities including risk management, horizon scanning and change management.

The Houses of Parliament have implemented and gained certification to ISO 22301, the international BCM system standard from the British Standards Institution. Being a UN World Heritage site and icon of national identity was among the unique challenges for the design of its business continuity management system, as well as the importance of the political dynamic; the traditions and rules of procedure that provide the basis for ‘business as usual’ activities and the dual nature of Parliament and its decision making processes.

A newly published report from the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) highlights a number of trends in the implementation of emergency communications plans in the UK. In order to be effective, emergency communications plans must be continuously updated to reflect the risks that a business faces, and must be thoroughly embedded throughout the organisation.

UK organisation, the Business Continuity Institute (BCI), says nearly a quarter of companies responding to its recent supply chain survey had suffered losses of at least €1 million during the previous twelve months as a result of supply chain disruptions. Of these, 13.2% suffered a one-off disruption that cost in excess of €1 million. Further, some 40% of organisations polled were not insured against any of these losses.

Sungard Availability Services has announced plans to open a new workplace recovery Centre for central London. The facility, which offers capacity for over 700 customer staff, will be equipped with the latest conferencing equipment and IT infrastructure.

Databarracks has launched a free online Disaster Recovery Toolkit comprising a Cost of Downtime Calculator allowing users to calculate precisely how much a given disaster would cost their business per department, per IT function or overall and a DR Responsibilities Chart outlining who is responsible for what in a disaster recovery scenario, from IT admins up to the IT Director and CEO. The downloadable tool also features a DR Runbook detailing exact tailored procedures and processes to follow in the event of an incident.

As concerns about the outbreak of Ebola and the potential for a wider spread of the disease increase, Marsh has put together guidance to help businesses understand and manage the UK insurance position and the risk management implications.

Swiss Re Corporate Solutions has launched contaminated products insurance cover for the food and drink industries in the UK, Ireland and Italy. The cover offers protection in both the primary and excess layers for manufacturers, retailers and distributors.

Hundreds of pro-democracy protesters remain encamped in northern parts of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong, on 8 October. While the intensity of the protest activity has diminished considerably since its peak on 1 and 2 October, considerable business and travel disruptions continue to be reported in the Central, Admiralty and Causeway Bay areas of the city.

BSI has launched an independent assessment scheme to assist companies achieve and demonstrate competence in their supply chain security. To help organisations implement the new standards, the BSI has offered the following top tips:

BSI has launched an independent assessment scheme to assist companies achieve and demonstrate competence in their supply chain security. ISO 28000, the international standard for supply chain security management, has been developed to help organisations to better assess security risks in their supply chain, manage new threats as they emerge and implement appropriate controls.