The finance chiefs of Britain's largest businesses saw a break-up of the euro as posing the biggest risk to their companies in 2012, according to the latest Deloitte CFO Survey released on Tuesday.

On average, the surveyed CFOs showed 37 percent of probability that one or more member states will leave the single currency in the course of 2012.

Those surveyed were largely unconvinced by the measures of European politicians and policymakers to tackle the crisis, as one CFO summed up the mood, "everyone is waiting for something very bad to happen."

"Against such a backdrop it is no surprise that a return to recession in Britain is, after the euro, the second biggest concern for CFOs in 2012," said Ian Stewart, Deloitte chief economist.

He added that "CFOs are now working on the assumption that Britain will fall back into recession. They see a 54 percent chance of Britain suffering a 'double dip,' up from just 27 percent a year ago."

Moreover, uncertainty is seen as another significant risk for business in 2012. The proportion of finance chiefs rating the level of external financial and macroeconomic uncertainty facing their business as being "high" or "very high" has more than doubled in the last six months to 56 percent, up from 26 percent in the summer.