midterm blogspot#2

Ayala Corporation

Ayala Aon Risk Services Inc., the country's biggest retail insurance brokerage firm controlled by the Ayala Corp., is planning to offer insurance packages for dotcom firms in the country to shield them from the risks of doing e-commerce bussiness. Michael Rellosa, vice president for corporate division of Ayala Aon, said the company was negotiating with three information technology firms that were interested in their proposed solutions against the liabilities of e-commerce business. ''There is a great need to manage cyber risks and we at the Ayala Aon have the solution. We are currently working with three dotcom companies relative to their Internet solutions. We're now reviewing their exposures and finding out solutions for them,'' Rellosa said. According to Rellosa, doing business over the Web exposes companies to potential hazards like suits from angry customers who may have been denied of service; lawsuits for transmitting viruses, and complaints for allowing the distribution of defamatory statements through their systems, among others. ''Insurance is the last option. What we package is a solution containing information on how to avoid such risks plus an insurance package,'' Rellosa said. Based on an industry study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), computer attacks via the Internet had increased by 183 percent in 1999. An extensive survey of 2,700 executives in 49 countries by Information Week, an online magazine, corroborated the finding. The survey revealed that 64 percent of the companies surveyed admitted that their security system had successfully been breached by at least one computer virus resulting in information loss and theft of data and trade secrets. According to James Patrick Matti, president of Ayala Aon, companies engaged in e-commerce should address their exposure to the Internet. ''These liabilities translate to loss of revenues,'' he said. Ayala Aon is a joint venture company between the Ayala Corp. and Aon Corp., the world's second largest insurance brokerage and risk management consultancy.