More than half of Britain’s top companies are looking to strengthen their risk management teams as the deepening economic crisis forces directors to question ill-fated investments and prepare for new uncertainties, such as suppliers going bust.

The Association of Insurance and Risk Managers (Airmic) said that in a private survey of its 450 corporate members, which included most FTSE 100 companies, 59 per cent had said that their level of interest in enterprise risk management had increased over the past two years.