Boards “Seriously unprepared” for Brexit

Miriam Gonzalez, a partner at law firm Dechert, said most boards were still “seriously unprepared” for Brexit. “Only some — mostly in the banking, insurance and pharma sectors — have done the necessary nitty-gritty homework to understand what areas of their business would be at the highest risk,” she said. “Many businesses — just like the government — are simply waiting to see what happens.” Despite the plethora of heavyweight warnings over the economic impact of a Brexit, survey after survey have found a substantial proportion of boards and executive committees have not done any contingency planning for such an eventuality. According to Deloitte’s latest canvassing of chief financial officers, more than half had no such plans in place. Research conducted for the Financial Times by ICSA, the governance body, found that only 49 per cent of boards had considered the implications of Brexit for their business. And 40 per cent of directors surveyed by the Institute of Directors said they were either “not prepared at all” or “not very prepared” for Brexit. “Whatever happens, the result will have long-lasting impacts for businesses, so we are very concerned that only around six in 10 of our members say they have discussed the implications at the board or senior management level,” said Simon Walker, IoD director-general.