While 2025 concluded as a “broadly supportive” year for insurance buyers, Aon has suggested that market conditions are becoming increasingly differentiated across product lines and geographies, underscoring the growing need for tailored insight and analytics-driven decision-making as organisations head into 2026.
Despite generally soft conditions across many key insurance lines, Aon’s latest Q4 2025 Global Insurance Market Insights (GIMI) report cautions that this favourable environment may be temporary, presenting a narrowing window for organisations to optimise their programmes before emerging pressures begin to influence outcomes.
Aon explained, “After two strong underwriting years, insurers’ capital positions are healthy, and competition remains robust. This tailwind, however, sits alongside intensifying pressures.
“Systemic shifts in loss severity, persistent social inflation, geopolitical challenges, and greater unpredictability of secondary perils continue. The convergence of positive insurer performance with a broad array of macro risks is creating an opportunity, albeit likely temporary, for risk managers to right-size and futureproof their programs.”
Aon’s Q4 2025 GIMI report also highlighted the nuances behind the broadly supportive conditions for insurance buyers last year.
Reduced pricing, expanded limits, and broader terms were observed across key lines, including property, cyber, and directors & officers (D&O) coverage.
Property conditions remained soft, buoyed by strong insurer investment returns, solid underwriting results, and a period of reduced major loss activity.
However, Aon noted that moderation is emerging in long-softening lines as insurers respond to rising claims activity, adverse loss development, and increasing risk complexity.
Casualty lines, particularly those exposed to the U.S. market, faced intensified pressures driven by nuclear verdicts, litigation funding, and capacity constraints in umbrella and excess liability coverage.
Beyond pricing and capacity, claims capabilities are becoming a critical differentiator. Organisations are increasingly prioritising transparency, digital tools, service quality, and overall claims excellence when selecting insurance partners.
The report also observed that systemic risk pressures—including social inflation, geopolitical volatility, and unpredictable secondary perils—are reshaping underwriting practices, influencing risk selection, limit deployment, and portfolio management strategies.
Joe Peiser, CEO of Commercial Risk for Aon, commented, “Market conditions continue to vary across products and geographies, reinforcing that a single, market-wide narrative no longer captures the full picture. This quarter’s GIMI reinforces the need for nuanced, data-driven conversations to help organisations secure the strongest outcomes as we head into 2026.”
Mona Barnes, chief claims officer, Commercial Risk for Aon, said, “One of the most important themes emerging from the Q4 GIMI is the growing influence of claims performance on insurer selection.
“Organisations are placing greater value on ease of getting claims paid, decision-making speed and the data capabilities that enhance efficiency. As expectations rise, Aon is helping clients assess performance, understand differences across the market and make decisions that strengthen program resilience.”
