Terrorism most likely at your local mall

The latest Terrorism and Political Violence Map released by Aon has found that the retail and transport sectors face the highest risk, accounting for a little over half of all attacks.

Attacks in the MENA region predominate—accounting for 52 percent of all terrorist attacks in 2013—while Brazil is seen as a country of increased concern due to heightened instability associated with the forthcoming football World Cup and October general election.

Europe has seen notable improvements with 11 countries having had civil commotion perils removed. Africa however remains unstable, with 22 countries having high to severe risk ratings.

Aon highlighted the rise of Salafi Jihadism as being behind rising terror attacks in the MENA region, further exacerbated by instabilities associated with the stalled Arab Spring.

Aon found that 33 percent of terror attacks targeted the retail sector, such as the attack on the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi, Kenya, while 18 percent were aimed at transportation targets.  Aon highlighted the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia as being a likely transportation target.

Commenting on the map Ian Nunn, head of Aon Risk Solutions’ crisis consulting team, said, “Clients are naturally keen to penetrate key economic markets around the world, and seek highly attractive opportunities where they can maximise greater returns from their investments. It is important for businesses to recognise that this will also pose significant new political, security and operational risks that will have to be combined with tough regulatory and legislative pressures.

“A clear understanding of exposure and risk including the possible rapid change in the political and security situations within their operating regions is necessary to ensure appropriate mitigation measures are in place to manage such exposure.”