The world’s biggest concern is cyberattacks, but Singapore’s is competition

Cyberattacks and data breaches are now widely regarded as the world’s most pressing business risk. In Singapore, however, companies are losing more sleep over something else: competition.

That contrast emerges clearly from global risk management and insurance company, AON’s latest Global Risk Management Survey, conducted in 2025 with responses from 2,941 organisations across 63 countries and territories. While cyber risk tops the global rankings, Singaporean respondents place increasing competition firmly at the top of their list of current and future concerns, ahead of economic slowdown and even cyber threats.

Globally, organisations identify cyberattacks and data breaches as the most critical risk both today and over the next three years, followed by economic slowdown and increasing competition. The large proportion of cyberattacks and data breaches from last year only validate this concern; think of the massive Marks and Spencer ransomware attack, or the DBS and Bank of China data leak last year.

Additionally, and perhaps relatedly, a large majority of global respondents also report having suffered losses from business interruption and cash flow risks in the year prior to the survey.

However, while cyberattacks and data breaches remain a top three risk in Singapore, they are overtaken by increasing competition and economic slowdown. Rapidly changing market trends and technology failures also feature among the country’s top risks, pointing to an environment where businesses feel constant pressure to adapt or risk being left behind.

This focus on competition reflects Singapore’s economic reality. As a small, open and highly globalised market, it is one where new entrants are frequent, regional rivals are close at hand and customer expectations shift quickly. This means that even in the absence of major shocks, companies can find the ground around their feet eroding away.

Where global and Singaporean companies converge is in how they respond to risk. The survey highlights widespread use of risk management plans, continuity planning and evaluations of risk financing and transfer solutions.

Together, these tools encourage organisations to think systematically about potential disruptions, clarify which losses can be absorbed internally and determine which exposures should be insured. While they do not remove risk, they provide guidance during periods of stress, helping companies prioritise actions and make trade-offs more deliberately rather than reactively.

Structurally, Singapore appears more prepared than those in other countries. A higher proportion of organisations report having a formal risk management and insurance department, which means risks are monitored continuously and able to advise leadership. Local organisations also have more established risk oversight policies, to infuse these precautions into their business strategy; and formal plans and regular reviews for top risks also mean responses are discussed and rehearsed in advance.

This readiness can be read in two ways. On one hand, it reflects a high level of institutional maturity in a business environment acutely aware of downside risk. On the other, it hints at a distinctly Singaporean instinct to fortify early and often, potentially at the expense of other aspects. What can be said is that in a world preoccupied with cyber threats, Singapore’s fixation on competition suggests that for businesses here, the greatest fear is not just being breached, but being outpaced.