Cyber risk the top risk management concern among FTSE 350 companies

According to the latest Boardroom Bellwether survey, carried out in October 2017 by governance body ICSA in partnership with the Financial Times, 80% of FTSE 350 businesses believe their exposure to cyber risk is increasing. In comparison, 56% of the respondents said they believe legal risk and political risk is increasing.

The survey also found that 90% of FTSE 350 companies are increasing the amount of money they are spending to mitigate cyber risk, ICSA said.

Peter Swabey, policy and research director at ICSA, said: "Unsurprisingly we are seeing an increase in the frequency with which boards or their committees consider exposure to cyber risk, with a quarter of respondents telling us that this happens at least quarterly and more than half of the rest at least twice a year. The 5% that are considering cyber risk less than annually might give shareholders cause for concern."

The winter 2017 Boardroom Bellwether survey also revealed that 89% of FTSE 350 companies believe they are ready to comply with the forthcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR will apply from 25 May this year.

However, Brexit was highlighted as a concern by more than half (51%) of the survey respondents. They said they expect Brexit to "cause some or significant damage to their business". None of the businesses said they think Brexit will have a positive impact on them, but only one respondent said their company is considering moving their headquarters or a substantial part of their business from the UK to somewhere else as a result of Brexit.

The Financial Times reported that 28 FTSE 100 and 47 FTSE 250 company secretaries responded to the survey.