The insurance industry, a market under strain

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In fact, two years of pandemics, a hot summer, a sharp rise in cybercrime and a war in the heart of Europe have somewhat spoiled the reunion as the challenges facing the profession have grown bigger than ever.

The emergence of new risks is no novelty, except for their accelerated accumulation, a totally unprecedented phenomenon. In a relatively short period of time, insurers find themselves overwhelmed by a multitude of new events that they sometimes do not know how to handle. Moreover, each new risk is, on its own, systemic in nature.

At the beginning of September 2022, the climatic risk has become the major concern, with extreme heat waves and severe weather turning into most dreaded phenomena with disastrous consequences.

Health, cyber and geopolitical risks of different nature, are also putting pressure on the economic model of insurers, weakened by a long period of low interest rates and slow growth in economically mature countries.

In this context, it is difficult for insurers to face such events alone and to balance their accounts, in the absence of a large base of policyholders allowing them to pool risks.

Managing emerging risks requires not only greater cooperation between insurers and the State, but also increased recourse to the financial markets, captive consolidation, parametric insurance, prevention and advice to policyholders.

Atlas Magazine N°194 October 2022 [1]