Economic risk is the top concern on business professionals’ minds going into 2012, according to two new, separate surveys conducted by Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) and the World Economic Forum.

The AGCS survey of 153 of the company’s risk experts was designed to gauge the mood of their business clients toward global risks. Those risk managers maintain that their clients are underestimating cyber risks.

Similarly, a report from the World Economic Forum (WEF) says experts and industry leaders see economic conditions having far greater consequences on society in the near term than environmental risks.

In the AGCS survey, 21 percent of risk experts cited the economic situation as one of the top-three risks on the minds of clients. Business interruption was the next most frequently mentioned risk, cited by 14 percent of respondents, and 9 percent mentioned natural catastrophes.

Michael Heise, Allianz’s group chief economist, says in the analysis, “Nervousness and volatility in the financial markets eventually undermine confidence and business activities in the real economy, which in turn further unsettles investors and the markets.”

Meanwhile, in the WEF’s Global Risks 2012 report, 469 experts and industry leaders were surveyed about the global risks that will have the greatest impact on society over the next 10 years. Severe income disparity and chronic fiscal imbalances were viewed as the most likely risks to affect the global landscape. Major systemic financial failure was viewed as having the greatest impact, followed by water-supply crises.

“This report is a wake-up call to both the public and private sectors to come up with constructive ways to realign the expectations of an increasingly anxious global community,” said John Drzik, CEO of Oliver Wyman Group, a Marsh & McLennan Cos. member and one of the sponsors of the report along with Swiss Re, Zurich Financial Services Group and The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

On business interruption, AGCS experts say vulnerable supply chains should be their clients’ highest priority, even though the economy is the risk on most of their minds. Paul Carter, head of property-risk consulting at AGCS, explains in the survey analysis that the increasing trend to source globally has reduced costs along the supply chain, but “the very flexibility that provides the supply chain with its cost advantages has also caused its inherent vulnerability.”

Cyber risks were not among the top concerns in either study. “Despite a broad awareness of the increasing risk, only 1 percent of risk experts say that their clients are concerned with cyber risks,” the AGCS report says. “Cyber risks are characterized by constant innovation and change and are therefore difficult to control.”

Special Reports /

Businesses See Economy as Greatest Risk in 2012, Two Studies Say

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