Artificial Intelligence (AI) and climate change have emerged as the top priorities for insurance executives worldwide, according to a survey by the International Insurance Society (IIS).
The ILS 2024 Global Priorities Survey aimed to identify the most critical issues for industry leaders and gather insights to shape the agenda for stakeholders in the coming year.
The survey asked respondents to choose their top three concerns from six categories: Economic, Political and Legal, Social and Environmental, Operational, Technology and Innovation, and Business and Financial.
For the first time, AI emerged as the leading priority in Technology and Innovation, with over half of the respondents highlighting its importance. ILS attributes this rise to executives reporting that their companies are unprepared for AI’s rapid development. They cited slow adaptation to technological changes and the need for extensive reskilling due to an aging workforce as major concerns.
In the survey, one executive wrote: “Regardless of technology advancements… machine learning or AI integration, the industry continues to be slow to change and adapt internally.”
Climate change continues to dominate the Social and Environmental category for the fourth consecutive year, with 60% of executives prioritising it for 2024. The increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters pose significant challenges, such as difficulties in predicting future losses and rising costs that could destabilise insurers, governments, and consumers. A quarter of respondents admitted their companies are not ready to address this issue in 2024.
Inflation, which falls within the Economic category, remains the most widely selected priority for 2024, spanning all internal and external categories for the third year in a row. While inflation concerns persist, recession fears have decreased from their 44% peak in 2022.
The survey also explored the top growth opportunities executives expect their companies to pursue in 2024.
ILS noted, “Product innovation is the top opportunity with two-thirds of executives saying that they expect their company to pursue it this year. 61% of respondents also shared that they will be seeking out new or underserved customer segments this year while just over half (55%) said that their companies will be focused on building trust and improving consumer engagement.
“Overall, executives felt their companies were prepared to pursue these growth vectors with an average of 95% saying that they were somewhat or very prepared to address them.”
