QBE’s 140-year legacy: Supporting Asian businesses through change

This post is sponsored by QBE.

Few roles are spared from the fallout from today’s heightened business risks. Many industries are heavily reliant on both talent and technology, but current labour constraints and daily cyber attacks, are creating enormous pressure to keep operations afloat. Added to this, rampant inflation and economic volatility make necessary purchases more expensive or simply unaffordable, further challenging many businesses’ ability to function normally.

When multiple bottlenecks happen simultaneously, a department’s output drastically slows, projects are postponed, and budgets are cancelled. As a result, the business overall struggles to operate optimally, and in some instances, entire departments and their various vendors cease to exist.

This is as much a reality for marcomms functions within multinational corporations (MNCs), as it is for the many agencies – large and small, and across a wide range of disciplines – that service them.

The same can be said for Asia’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), irrespective of industry. Unlike their MNC peers, SMEs typically do not have the financial resources to shield themselves from risks like supply chain disruptions or the introduction of trade tariffs – severely straining their income and ability to trade.

A helping hand

For the many different businesses and departments experiencing these challenges, help is at hand in the form of insurance.

It is often overlooked the reason insurance was created was to enable companies to trade domestically and internationally, with the peace of mind that should an event severely disrupt this trade, financial compensation would be awarded to cover losses. To this day, insurance remains a means of navigating uncertainty and managing change, while simultaneously empowering businesses to grow during difficult times.

For over 140 years, QBE has epitomised this purpose. That the company was founded by shipping and trading entrepreneurs, not career insurers, to mitigate the many risks associated with their trade, underscores how QBE’s mindset is grounded in commercial instinct.

The company was initially founded to insure against cyclones that threatened coastal trade, thereby also underlining how the company’s expertise continues to be forged amid tough and real-world conditions.

QBE’s pioneering spirit was as relevant then as it was throughout the 20th century and to the present day. Operating across three continents within a mere four years, the company wasn’t built locally, then expanded – it was international from day one. That QBE has endured through two world wars and continues to operate amid strained geopolitical tensions demonstrates how the business continues to adapt under extreme global disruption.

Service, expertise, and a human connection

Indeed, since 1886, QBE has supported businesses through changing risks, market cycles, and periods of uncertainty. Its continued progress has been built on focus, discipline, and long-standing relationships – demonstrating the resilience of the business and the role we play in helping customers and communities recover, adapt, and move forward.

From our roots in North Queensland, Australia, as a specialist marine insurer, QBE has grown to become a leading global insurer with a local presence in 26 countries, bringing extensive international experience and cross-border capability to complex risks.

Together, these qualities have shaped who we are today, and gives us confidence in what lies ahead, built on the same foundations of service, expertise, and human connection. We’ll continue to grow and protect what matters most for our customers and are committed to be a leader at the heart of our industry.

Supporting the business of marketing and communications

At QBE, we are acutely aware that different businesses require distinct insurance coverage. The needs of an MNC will be very different from an SME, for instance.

Even within the small companies space, the insurance requirements of a tech developer will be distinct from those of a food and beverage outlet. The same can be said for marketing and communications agencies, where we have a rich history of providing these businesses with a wide range of insurance policies, across work injury compensation insurance, business interruption insurance, cyber insurance, and many more.

As it happens, we are acutely aware of the dynamics of the marketing and communications industry, having ourselves won three awards at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s PR Awards Southeast Asia 2026.

So, click the “Protect your business” button at https://www.qbe.com/sg/campaign/sme-insurance-singapore to learn more about how we can support your business needs further.