Half of 100 UK leading companies are taking up credit insurance programmes since the Turnbull Report, recent research has shown.
Hermes Credit Services, part of the Allianz Group, had an independent research agency conduct in-depth interviews with risk managers from 100 of the UK's 700 biggest companies.
All but three of the companies surveyed have a turnover of more than £100m and many have a turnover of more than £1bn.
The research showed the Turnbull report, which made directors more responsible for the actions of their company, had increased awareness of the need to have a risk management culture throughout the company.
Attitudes had changed significantly since a similar study was conducted for Hermes two years ago.
The survey finds 50% of the companies surveyed have credit insurance programmes, a significant rise from 28% in the previous survey, while 7% did not know whether they had credit insurance and 43% said they had no programmes.
Hermes managing director Simon Marshall said every company was exposed to a huge number of risks when conducting business.
“Turnbull's been a wake-up call for UK boards, many of whom have now implemented strategic risk management plans,” said Marshall.
Four out of five companies surveyed made their risk management strategic plans at board level and one out of three viewed credit insurance as important or fundamental.
The research also showed that most companies were now embedding strategies and practices that had been developed over the past few years.
Marshall said companies seemed to be taking a more holistic view of the risks they faced, such as how, with whom and where their business was conducted.
“Well-structured credit insurance programmes are being evermore perceived as an effective business and risk management tool for this purpose,” he said.
