IAIS 2025 report: private credit, AI, and geopolitical risks shape global insurance

The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) has released its 2025 Global Insurance Market Report (GIMAR), highlighting trends with direct implications for global insurers and reinsurers, including those in travel insurance.

IAIS Executive Committee Chair Toshiyuki Miyoshi said the sector remained resilient “amidst significant structural shifts”, noting that as insurers expand into private credit, navigate geoeconomic fragmentation, and adopt artificial intelligence (AI), supervisors must ensure governance and risk-management frameworks “are strengthened to address these changes”.

Secretary General Jonathan Dixon added that the report reaffirmed the IAIS’ commitment to identifying emerging risks and supporting supervisors worldwide.

Global solvency and liquidity positions remained robust in 2024, supported by capital buffers and stable investment income, according to the report. Non-life insurers recorded improved combined ratios, while life insurers benefited from favourable market conditions. Despite ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, the report concluded that the outlook for 2026 was stable.

Systemic risk indicators for insurers saw a slight decline and remain well below those of the banking sector. The IAIS completed its triennial review of the individual insurer monitoring methodology, with the Financial Stability Board reaffirming the IAIS Holistic Framework for assessing systemic risk in insurance.

The report highlights the growing allocation of life insurers to private credit, offering illiquidity premiums but raising valuation, liquidity, and borrower-quality risks. These trends, alongside cross-border asset-intensive reinsurance, are prompting the IAIS to intensify monitoring and develop future supervisory guidance.

Geoeconomic fragmentation from trade tensions, sanctions, and divergent monetary policies is adding complexity to asset-liability management, while rapid adoption of AI in underwriting and claims is raising concerns over governance, cyber risk and data bias. Climate-related exposures remain steady, and reinsurers stayed well capitalised in 2024 with stabilising results and conservative investment strategies.

Looking ahead, the IAIS will expand monitoring of alternative assets, deepen systemic-risk analysis, guide life-sector structural shifts, and continue enhancing climate risk assessments.

A new study has found that most insurance customers now use generative AI when shopping for travel cover.