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The Real Risks: Hidden threats within third-party relationships

With the COVID-19 pandemic applying huge stress to global supply chains, a new survey explores the critical area of third-party relationships revealing the hidden dangers in supplier, distributor and partner relationships.

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Refinitiv survey exposes severe lack of due diligence on business supply chains

New research report shows 43% of third-party relationships are not subject to any form of due diligence checks, as companies struggle to monitor third-party risks and protect themselves and their supply chains in the post COVID-19 environment

With an average of nearly 10,000 third-party relationships to deal with, many organizations are not fully carrying out due diligence at either onboarding or ongoing monitoring stages. This is compounded by competitive pressures, greater globalization and increasingly complex supply chains. Despite greater regulation and stronger enforcement action, the report finds that organizations are struggling to gain visibility over third-party risks and take appropriate action.

COVID-19 is set to have a substantial impact on the risk landscape, particularly in terms of supply chain and third-party risk. Global supply chains can create competitive advantages for businesses and cut costs for consumers, but they also carry significant risk. If businesses do not have clear insight into all levels of their supply chains and the ability to conduct due diligence quickly and easily, they cannot hope to mitigate or manage their risk.

Access the full report to find out:

  • How all these factors have impacted the risks that organizations face – and their ability to manage them.
  • How COVID-19 is set to have a substantial impact on the risk landscape, particularly in terms of supply chain and third-party risk.
  • Why green crimes and environmental risks are rising; and require more accurate analysis.
  • 1800
    Survey responders include global risk management and compliance professionals in corporate organisations
  • 16
    Countries in which research was conducted
  • 17.5m
    third-party relationships across these organisations surveyed

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COVID-19 has exposed the fragility of supply chains and demonstrated how critical due diligence is to identify and manage multiple risk scenarios, whether it be country risk, jurisdiction risk, or the concentration risk of over-exposure to vendors or geographies. As a result, businesses are likely to build greater visibility and resilience into their supply chains in the future so they can more thoroughly assess and mitigate supply chain risks and increase actions taken in all aspects of third-party due diligence.
Phil Cotter

Phil Cotter
Managing Director of the Risk business at Refinitiv.

Key content

43%

of third-party relationships are not subject to any form of due diligence

25%

of an organization’s corporate value would be lost as a result of a regulatory breach, according to our survey respondents.

15%

of global respondents reported they had sufficient knowledge of the risks associated with pandemic and epidemics