Philippe Cotelle, President of FERMA, has called for greater collaboration between organisations and the insurance industry to address the misalignment between the annual insurance renewal process and the multi-year planning cycles that businesses operate on.
During the FERMA Forum 2026 in Rotterdam, Cotelle urged businesses and insurers to look beyond the traditional annual renewal cycle to bridge the different time horizons of insurance and corporate planning.
“We must challenge the status quo of the insurance cycle”, Cotelle said. “For centuries, there has been a mismatch at the heart of the relationship between insured and insurer. The insurance cycle is annual, yet corporate operational planning operates on 3-to-5-year cycles. You cannot build a factory or develop a product for a single year.”
He also highlighted the “fragility” of the current partnership model between businesses and their insurers, where either party has the option to end the relationship when market dynamics or exposure conditions change.
“A partnership that only lasts when ‘everything is going well’ is not a partnership, it is merely a transaction,” he said.
Cotelle highlighted the need for a long-term mutual commitment between both parties that is maintained through changing conditions and provides greater visibility and stability.
He added, “This is in our common interest – a genuine, durable partnership where volatility can be absorbed, shared or managed over time and where true alignment of purpose is achieved. That is the foundation of economic resilience.”
During his speech at the Forum, Cotelle also addressed the “AI Paradox”, noting that artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly embedded within the operational frameworks of organisations, while the term “AI” remains “almost non-existent” in policy wordings. He said this meant that, for businesses on their digital journey, “the sword of Damocles posed by AI hovers above us.”
“This lack of clarity around AI in insurance contracts is unsustainable for corporates,” said Cotelle. “It creates clear uncertainty about the role of the insurance industry in the digital journey. Insurance has a critical role to play in supporting this transition and we need to secure the foundations of that role now.”
To address this, Cotelle proposed that FERMA lead a multi-stakeholder dialogue to explore ways to collectively address AI risk in the immediate and longer term.
Cotelle explained that the FERMA Forum represented the Federation’s motto, “Together Stronger”, in action.
“’Together Stronger’ is not just a slogan,” he explained, “it is the foundation of our strategy through which we transform individual strength into a coordinated, united and unstoppable community.”
