INSIGHTS

COMMUNITY ARTICLE

Hidden Threats Within Third-Party Relationships

In an increasingly interconnected and globalised world, many third-party risks are going undetected with companies not doing enough to protect themselves against criminal activity and resulting regulatory enforcement.

With the COVID-19 pandemic applying huge stress to global supply chains and allowing criminals to exploit the pandemic to defraud companies and government agencies, this report from Refinitiv focuses on the critical area of third-party relationships, revealing the hidden risks in supplier, distributor and partner relationships.

Key findings include:

With an average of nearly 10,000 third-party relationships to deal with, many organisations are not completing full third-party due diligence at either onboarding or ongoing monitoring stages. This is compounded by competitive pressures, greater globalisation and increasingly complex supply chains
Despite greater regulation and stronger enforcement action, organisations are struggling to gain visibility of all third-party risks to enable appropriate action to be taken. Green and environmental crime risks are rising but require more accurate analysis
Better data, greater innovation and new forms of collaboration hold the key to reducing third-party risk. Building greater transparency and resilience into supply chains is also crucial.