Moody's analysts pick out 10 big risks facing insurance industry

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(Bloomberg) –Climate-related disasters rank as just one of the leading factors turning the insurance industry on its head. 

Complications with global supply chains, an increase in cyberattacks and the rise in geopolitical conflicts also are on the list of the top 10 challenges facing insurers, analysts at Moody’s Corp.’s insurance-solutions group wrote in a paper entitled “The 10 Major Risks Shaping Insurance Today.”

“Supply chain shocks, the overhang of the pandemic, and geopolitical risk has escalated economic issues that have been largely benign in many countries, driving inflation, wages and raw material price rises, with insurers reaching for an inflationary business playbook that they haven’t used for 20 to 30 years,” according to the report.

Historically, insurers have considered stress tests from a “singular perspective” and now they’re being forced to grapple with an “increasing complexity of risks,” said Michael Steel, general manager of Moody’s Insurance Solutions, in an interview.

Here is Moody’s list of the 10 biggest risks and here is the report: 

1. The Many, Many Tipping Points of Climate Change

2. The ‘Not So’ Straight Path to Net Zero

3. Getting Reacquainted with Unprecedented Economic Shocks 

4. Choppy Waters Ahead Instead of Plain Sailing for Supply Chains 

5. Perennial Wars Rise Back to the Surface 

6. Don’t Forget The Customer: The Challenges of Insurability for Cat Perils 

7. No Quick Fix For Crumbling Infrastructure

8. Any Time, Anywhere: The Rapid Proliferation of Cyber Attacks 

9. The Return of Long-Tail Liabilities

10. Give and Take in Longevity and Mortality