About 50% of companies here do not own business liability insurance: survey

ONLY 54 per cent of companies here have business liability insurance, a survey has found.

QBE Insurance's latest report, The Risks of Regret, found that in regional economies such as Indonesia, Hong Kong and Malaysia, business liability insurance ownership is 54 per cent, 47 per cent and 45 per cent respectively.

However, most companies (95 per cent) have some form of general business insurance such as accident and property cover.

QBE said that the low rate of business liability insurance is despite the fact that 63 per cent of all the companies surveyed experienced liability-related incidents within the last year. This includes 65 per cent of businesses in Singapore.

For "important types of business liability insurance, both knowledge and ownership is significantly low". For example, for public and product liability insurance, awareness stood at 31 per cent. Ownership was lowest in Indonesia (16 per cent) and highest in Malaysia and Hong Kong (21 per cent).

In terms of professional indemnity insurance, the ownership was lowest in Hong Kong (13 per cent) and highest in Singapore (21 per cent), and overall awareness was 29 per cent.

For directors' and officers' liability insurance, the ownership was lowest in Malaysia (8 per cent) and highest in Singapore and Indonesia (16 per cent). Awareness was found to be at 24 per cent.

The report surveyed nearly 1,200 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and large corporations in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia between March 31 and May 17. It looked at current and future business challenges, and how well-prepared companies are to deal with risk.