One in 10 Hong Kong SMEs do not have insurance protection: survey

Only a fifth of SMEs have insurance protection against business interruptions.

Despite displaying growing concern of income loss brought about by business interruptions, 14% of SMES in Hong Kong do not have any form of insurance protection, according to a survey from QBE.

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Although they recognised the importance of digital technologies, nearly a quarter (23%) do not have protection measures in place like cybersecurity software as they cite high costs, shortage of IT skills and lack of funds as amongst the top barriers to digitising their systems.

The survey notes that only 21% of SMEs have insurance protection against business interruptions and 16% to protect against liabilities to third-parties.

This comes even as 73% of SMEs admitted to experiencing at least one business issue in the past twelve months including issues like equipment breakdown, damage or loss of inventory and property damage.

“Given that they [SMEs] employ nearly half of the workforce in the city, the consequence could be profound for the company and possibly the economy at large,” Lei Yu, CEO for North Asia, QBE Insurance said in a statement.