Business leaders across Europe share the same top worries, but disagree sharply on the pace at which they are embedding insurance into board-level strategy, a new report by Worldwide Broker Network (WBN), and produced with MarshBerry, revealed.
The New Risk Reality Report, which surveyed 1,000 corporates insurance buyers across the UK, France, Germany, found that cyber risk, AI disruption, and economic uncertainty are universally viewed as top pressures.
While nearly half of executives see proactive risk management as vital to resilience, national divides determine whether boardrooms treat insurance as a core strategic asset or simply as an operational overhead.
The UK leads globally in strategy maturity, with 51% of executives viewing commercial insurance as a a strategic investment supporting enterprise resilience and performance.
UK buyers are notably cyber-conscious, citing digital coverage gaps as a primary operational headache, and 55% name service quality as their foremost broker selection criterion, the highest rate globally.
France sits mod-table on strategic perception, with 35% viewing cover strategically while registering the highest share globally – 6% versus 3% globally – that still treats insurance as an unavoidable expense.
When appointing an intermediary, 45% of French decision-makers prioritised price and total cost of risk, followed by service execution.
Spain matches France at 35% on strategic perception, and leads in viewing innovation as the top resilience lever over risk management or crisis preparedness.
Unlike France, Spanish leaders strongly prioritise price over service quality. 39% vs 32%, alongside industry specialisation, 38%, and global network reach, 35%.
Germany trails the region on strategic elevation, with just 29% treating commercial insurance as an investment. 25% of German leaders categorise coverage primarily as an operational safeguard, substantially above the 34% global norm.
German executives are also unique in elevating clear governance and decision making structures to equal standing with proactive risk strategy as a core resilience driver.
While premium rate hardening remains the primary insurance-related friction point across the continent, according to 48% in France, 43% in Germany, 41% in the UK, and 37% in Spain, according to the report, Spain proved an exception.
Only 37% of Spanish executives named rate increases as their main concern, overtaken instead by natural catastrophe capacity of 40% and line adequacy at 36% amid intensifying extreme weather exposures.
According to the report, nine in ten European leaders rate their risk function’s reputation as “good”, yet view consultative, non-transactional relationships as key to improvement.
Geopolitical instability is a top-three risk in France, Germany, and Spain, but not in the UK, where cybersecurity, AI disruption, and economic uncertainty lead concerns.
“What resonates most strongly from this research is how rapidly insurance is evolving into a strategic tool for risk, resilience, and workforce stability across every market we operate in, even where that evolution is happening at different speeds. It’s becoming integral to business planning on a Board level, rather than an afterthought or cost centre,” said Olga Collins, CEO of WBN.
Comparably, WBN’s survey of 750 leaders across the US and Canada revealed notable contrasts with Europe. in The US, 49% of executives deem commercial coverage integral to enterprise resilience and performance, aligning closely with the UK but outpacing Germany, France, and Spain.
American leaders also expressed the sharpest affordability strain, with half citing premiums as their top operational concern, compared to an European spread ranging from 37% in Spain to 48% in France.
Furthermore, while US and UK buyers place heavy emphasis on digital tools and technological innovation, continental European corporate accounts remain far more anchored to competitive pricing, line capacity, and specialist technical knowledge.
