ACE Sponsored Survey Shows Environmental Risk Low on Asia Pacific Companies' Risk...

ACE Sponsored Survey Shows Environmental Risk Low on Asia Pacific Companies' Risk Horizon

SINGAPORE--(Business Wire)--
Although the general trend globally is towards more rigorous
evaluation of environmental risk, Asia Pacific is behind the curve
according to a new survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit
and sponsored by the ACE Group of Companies(R).

The survey report 'Under the Spotlight: the transition of
Environmental Risk Management' assesses the extent to which
environmental risk management has become part and parcel of modern
business strategy. In March 2008, the Economist Intelligence Unit
surveyed 320 executives around the world about their approach to
environmental risk management and their perception of the key
challenges and opportunities surrounding environmental risk. Of the
survey respondents from Asia and Australasia, North America and
Western Europe, 40% were senior C-level executives such as CEOs, CFOs,
and CROs and the balance consisted of risk managers, senior vice
presidents, heads of business units and other senior managers.

Twenty percent of the 101 risk managers surveyed in Asia Pacific
saw market risk as a more significant threat than environmental risk
(2%). When asked to rate the environmental concerns which they felt
were significant, climate change, rising fuel and energy prices
emerged as very significant environmental concerns among 21% of Asia
Pacific's respondents.

On whether there were more risks or opportunities associated with
climate change in Asia Pacific, 29% saw the risks as significant but a
slightly higher portion of 35% saw the opportunities as significant.
This finding reflects a widely held view that, while climate change
could have a devastating effect on economic growth and the business
community, there will be new and emerging opportunities associated
with society's efforts to address the problem. ACE, for example,
launched Environmental Risk Solutions earlier this year in Asia
Pacific to add breadth to the current range of liability offerings by
providing businesses with ability to deal with environmental
pollution.

The findings do also show that 30% of Asia Pacific respondents
expect to significantly increase the amount of attention and financial
resources dedicated to environmental risk in the next three years.
During this time, 51% of the respondents expect the scale of overall
environmental liabilities to increase.

"The survey shows that growing stakeholder pressure, the
complexity of supply-chain and vendor management coupled with the
threat of climate change are the three main factors encouraging the
rise of environmental risk up the corporate agenda." said John
Bassetto, President & CEO ACE Asia Pacific. "Although Asia Pacific is
lagging behind in addressing environmental risk management, as the
pace of environmental regulation and awareness grows, ACE strongly
believes that more and more companies will be compelled to consider
environmental risk as part of their total insurance needs".

ABOUT ACE

ACE Asia Pacific is a part of the ACE Group of Companies(R). The
region comprises an extensive network of operations serving Australia,
Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, New Zealand,
Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. ACE's presence
in China is driven by a strategic partnership with Huatai Insurance
Company, in which ACE is the single largest shareholder.

ACE Asia Pacific offers a diversified product suite which has at
its core an established Property & Casualty business which is
increasingly balanced by Accident & Health offerings. Supplementing
these primary lines of business is a growing array of small-to-medium
enterprise (SME), and Personal Lines products.

Additional information can be found at www.acelimited.com.

ACE Asia Pacific
Michele Anne Minjoot, +65 6398-8708
michele.minjoot@ace-ina.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008