Discussion centred around the findings of CNA Hardy’s latest risk and confidence survey – ‘taking the pulse of British business’ in the Autumn of 2017.
One of the key findings of the survey was that business confidence levels had plummeted to only 28%, from 71% when the survey was carried out in the Spring of 2017. Participants of the roundtable were quick to point to political and economic factors driving business uncertainty and therefore a dip in confidence levels.
“It’s clear the confidence base of UK-based multinationals has dipped, considerably, but we are encouraged by the fact they are still planning on top-line growth into 2018,” observed CNA Hardy’s chief underwriting officer, Patrick Gage.
“In spring of 2017, 71% of the base of customers were confident about delivering a more optimistic outlook for the future. That’s dipped now to 28%. So that’s very interesting. What’s dominating this is what we call ‘headline grabbing issues’ around political and economic risk. Since that original survey, we’ve had the difficulty in Brexit negotiations for the UK, and also the UK general election that provided a very inconclusive outcome. What does…
