A series of drivers are reshaping financial risks, particularly in the area of retirement. A rise in health expenditures, ageing populations and low interest rates are contributing to retirement insecurity around the world.

Over the past few decades, the economies of many emerging markets have grown rapidly, lifting millions out of poverty and creating a growing middle class.

The gig economy offers benefits for both workers and consumers. However, compared to traditional employees, gig workers are more exposed to risks such as loss of income, out-of-pocket medical expenses, underprovision for retirement and professional liability. This report examines the nature and scale of the protection gaps facing gig workers and explores how insurers, policymakers and digital labour platforms can work to provide innovative solutions that will mitigate risk exposures and make this new way of working more secure and sustainable.

State-sponsored cyberattacks that stop short of outright military conflict, otherwise known as hostile cyber activity (HCA), pose a threat to insurability due to the scale of potential accumulated losses. This third and final report in our series on cyber terrorism and cyber war examines in detail the ability of the private re/insurance sector to underwrite HCA risks and the role that public-private partnerships can play in fostering effective solutions.

By 2050, more than two thirds of the world's population is projected to live in cities. Urbanisation is associated with fundamental socio-economic changes that present formidable challenges to socio-economic resilience and have significant risk management and insurance implications. This report explores the link between urbanisation and the dynamics of risk landscapes and examines insurers’ potential contribution to mitigating emerging vulnerabilities.

Digital technologies are transforming the way businesses are formed and operate and providing digital entrepreneurs with new business opportunities. However, the shift towards intangible assets also comes with new risks and liability exposures.

This report explores how insurers are adapting their services to better meet the needs of digital entrepreneurs, as well as possible avenues for future insurance innovation.

Population ageing, shifting disease patterns and rising costs of care are putting traditional healthcare systems under increasing pressure. New Care Models (NCMs) aim to tackle the problem through better coordination of health and care provision, by enhancing services closer to home and outside hospital settings, and encouraging interventions to promote good health. This report explores the current evidence on the effectiveness of NCMs and outlines what insurers need to do to successfully adopt them.

Insurance regulators and standard-setting bodies are increasingly focused on devising methodologies for climate risk assessment and scenario analysis to support the insurance industry in dealing with the potential impacts of climate change. This issue brief produced by the Geneva Association Task Force on Climate Change Risk Assessment for the Insurance Industry, offers a review of the activities of 12 international, regional, national and sub-national financial services regulatory bodies and their associated strengths and challenges. 

COVID-19 initiated or accelerated major changes in 2020 and 2021 – social, economic, political and technological. As societies begin to emerge from the pandemic, it is important for insurers to understand which trends will stick and how their businesses will be impacted. Our report sheds new light.

The study draws on 25 interviews with experts and industry executives and on a global customer survey of 8,000 insurance customers – both retail and commercial – across eight countries (Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S.).