Coronavirus is the latest and most impactful challenge faced by the global economy but trade tensions, geopolitical uncertainty and Brexit also present threats to continuity in 2020. Against this backdrop, Euler Hermes has downgraded a record 18 countries and 126 sector risk ratings due to recession risk and COVID-19-related bankruptcies.

We cannot avoid talking about the pandemic currently affecting the global business environment. It is, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in one of his many recent briefings,“the worst global health crisis in a generation”.

Gala Dinner and Awards Presentation will now take place on Wednesday 9th December.

When it comes to disruption, we’ve seen it all. Over the decades, businesses have had to combat a growing number of threats – whether they take the form of natural disasters, terrorism, global cyber attacks, and just about any unexpected scenario you can imagine. But, as the spread of COVID-19 has shown, it’s clear that new and unprecedented threats of disruption will continue to emerge that will challenge the agility of all businesses globally.

Less than half of safety and performance improvement recommendations put forward for critical energy infrastructure are fully implemented, new research reveals, greatly increasing the risk of failure, fatality or fire posed by transformers.

The COVID-19 outbreak is forcing millions of employees to work from home, presenting organisations with an unprecedented challenge -- keeping as many business-critical functions running as possible whilst maintaining cyber security. According to information security experts at Veridium, this represents the greatest ever cyber security threat firms have ever faced.

Each firm’s designated Senior Manager or equivalent person is responsible for identifying which of their employees are unable to perform their jobs from home, and have to travel to the office or business continuity site, according to guidance issued by the Financial Conduct Authority.

BSI has today made public a suite of resilience standards to help businesses navigate the challenges associated with the coronavirus pandemic.

Willis Towers Watson has launched an tool that provides real-time information on confirmed global COVID-19 cases alongside clients’ property total insured values by location. Part of its Global Peril Diagnostic modelling tool, the new feature enables clients to easily track developments of the pandemic set against their property assets around the world.

From today, government support for businesses will be available to help businesses maintain continuity and manage cashflow in the face of the global economic emergency brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

The combined impact of increased home working and the closure of schools across the UK could place a severe burden on internet infrastructure, with the EU asking the main video streaming platforms to adapt the way they deliver their service in order to help reduce the load.

The Financial Conduct Authority has set out its expectations for insurance firms in the context of the current COVID-19 crisis and published guidance for consumers on the service levels they should receive.

With the current widespread impact on global supply chains, supply chain leaders should focus on three impact areas for their initial crisis management, according to Gartner. "As COVID-19 spreads globally, we are seeing increased supply chain disruption, but also changes in consumer spending habits,” said Sarah Watt, senior director analyst with the Gartner Supply Chain practice. “Supply has been impacted in three primary ways: limited access to employees due to quarantines; factory closures or manufacturing slowdowns; and limited access to logistics to move goods. Most supply chain organisations are in crisis management, assessing impacts and response on a daily, if not hourly basis.”

A report launched today by the British Standards Institution highlights the ongoing risks relating to the coronavirus outbreak, widespread protests and climate change as key drivers of global supply chain disruption. Using data from its SCREEN tool, BSI predicts these trends will dominate the global supply chain throughout the year ahead.