Report
The global commercial insurance market ended the year broadly soft and strongly competitive. Capital availability remained ample, though more fragmented. Risk selection came into sharper focus, with insurers leaning heavily on data, analytics and underwriting discipline to differentiate between risks.
Within this generally buyer-friendly environment, market conditions varied by product line. Significant rate reductions continued for property risks, supported by a generally benign claims environment. At the same time, product lines that had been in extended softening cycles — particularly directors and officers and cyber — saw insurers sharpen their focus on long-term pricing sustainability in response to increasing claims activity, poor loss development and rising risk complexity.
Adverse litigation trends, including “nuclear verdicts” and litigation funding, and aggressive plaintiff bar tactics, continued to drive casualty loss costs higher, particularly for U.S.-exposed risks, leading to challenging conditions for some casualty risks, especially in the excess layers.
From a geographic perspective, buyer-friendly market conditions continued for well-managed property and casualty risks — particularly in Latin America and the Pacific, and to a lesser extent across EMEA and Asia. In North America, conditions were more moderate but varied widely by product.
Q4 underscored this central reality of 2025: the insurance market has been largely favorable for buyers, but increasingly uneven in its outcomes. “The traditional industry perspective that the insurance market moves as a monolith has given way to a new view: that pricing cycles are now specific to product, industry and geography. This is a trend that we believe is here to stay.” said Joe Peiser, Chief Executive Officer of Commercial Risk, at Aon. Each segment is driven by specific characteristics, including claims trends, risk factors and supply of capacity. Finally, as hard market conditions wane and soft market conditions increase, we are seeing consolidation activity among insurers. If that activity becomes significant, it could have an impact upon market dynamics during 2026.
Resilience amidst a shifting risk landscape
The industry again proved resilient in the face of volatility. Large scale events, including severe wildfires and nontraditional catastrophes, were absorbed without a broad withdrawal of capacity or a sharp reversal in pricing. However, this resilience will continue to be tested as the underlying risk landscape continues to become more complex and unpredictable. Insurer appetite, underwriting, pricing and capacity deployment must expand beyond hurricanes in Florida and typhoons in Southeast Asia to include floods in Dubai, freezes in Texas, wildfires in Europe and tornadoes approaching the U.S. East Coast — extreme events in places that did not historically see them. Combined with geopolitical tensions, cyber threats and supply chain fragility, this shifting view of risk is challenging traditional underwriting approaches to risk selection, limit deployment, and portfolio management.
A transition to creative and agile risk capital
Building on the transition that began in 2024, 2025 marked a further mainstreaming of creative risk capital solutions. Blended programs, pre-brokered facilities, captives, parametric covers and structured solutions are now central to many programs. In North America, for example, structured casualty arrangements are increasingly used to recalibrate the balance of risk and price at different threshold levels, as the “payback period” to the insurer implied by traditional pricing is often shorter than what clients consider acceptable. Globally, parametric covers are being deployed to provide immediate liquidity following extreme weather events and to support exposures that fall outside traditional policy coverages.
Across these developments runs a common thread: risk financing is moving from transactional, product specific buying to a more holistic, portfolio-based approach. While the question of a policy’s effectiveness and pricing may still be relevant, a better question in many cases is “Across our entire portfolio of risks, where does each additional unit of capital deliver the greatest value in terms of resilience?”
A shift in C-suite conversations
2025 underscored the strategic role of analytics. Tools such as Aon’s Property Risk Analyzer and Casualty Risk Analyzer are shifting conversations with the C-suite from “Could a loss happen?” to “When a loss happens, how big could it be?”, “How often is a loss likely to occur?”, and “What is the best way to finance and mitigate loss?”.
This quantifiable, probabilistic view helps clients right-size limits and retentions, assess alternative structures and bring a more objective lens to negotiations with insurers.
Claims as a strategic differentiator
Claims performance is becoming a more pronounced differentiator as programs grow more complex and insurer participation becomes more fragmented. Particularly in casualty, larger and more frequent severe claims are testing programs and relationships. As a result, market selection increasingly considers not only price, coverage, and capacity, but also the consistency, transparency, and technical quality of claims handling.
Against this backdrop, 2026 opens as a year of opportunity. 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.
In this environment, risk managers face four strategic imperatives:
Rather than optimizing each placement in isolation, organizations should consider managing risk and capital holistically, deciding which risks to retain, transfer, finance or mitigate at a portfolio level. Questions such as, “If there were one more dollar, euro or yen to spend, where would it deliver the most value?” should guide decisions on limits, retentions, captives, parametrics, and alternative structures and solutions.
Advanced analytics, benchmarking and scenario modeling now enable more precise views of volatility and total cost of risk. These tools can be leveraged to challenge historic program designs, stress test earnings at risk and prioritize where to deploy capital — whether through purchasing additional limit or new coverage, or investing in risk engineering. “We’re seeing a clear shift from transactional broking to holistic, portfolio-based risk advisory — using data and analytics to optimize total cost of risk, integrate alternative solutions, and strengthen resilience across the entire program.” says Cynthia Beveridge, Chief Broking Officer, Commercial Risk, at Aon.
Current market conditions create an opportunity to reinvest in risk improvement, supply chain resilience, cyber preparedness, climate adaptation and broader coverage. Organizations can use this window to futureproof their programs ahead of a potential turn in the cycle — recognizing that when conditions change, they may do so quickly and unevenly across different products, geographies and industries.
Organizations should prioritize insurers who are investing in their claims teams, who place a high value on claims capabilities and risk transfer, and who bring together their workforces with value-focused (not merely cost-cutting) digital capabilities to enhance client outcomes.
Report
Expand the options below to read a summary of how the insurance market trended in Q4 2025 across pricing, capacity, underwriting, limits, deductibles and coverages.
| Pricing | Capacity | Underwriting | Limits | Deductibles | Coverages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asia | -1-10% | Abundant | Flexible | Flat | Flat | Broader |
| EMEA | -1-10% | Abundant | Flexible | Flat | Flat | Stable |
| Latin America | -11-20% | Abundant | Flexible | Increased | Decreased | Stable |
| North America | Flat | Ample | Prudent | Flat | Flat | Stable |
| Pacific | -11-20% | Abundant | Flexible | Increased | Flat | Broader |
Conditions are soft overall, with significant reductions available for preferred and well-performing risks in most markets. However, pricing for automobile and U.S.-exposed casualty is more moderate. Price reductions for directors and officers and cyber appear to be nearing the bottom of the cycle in several markets as insurers shift their focus to longer-term pricing sustainability. Price competition is strongest in Latin America and the Pacific, where double-digit reductions are common. Reductions are also widely available in EMEA and Asia, while conditions are more nuanced in North America. Significant reductions are available for preferred risks in the U.S. property market, although they have begun to moderate.
The market is well-capitalized, with insurers focused on growth and broadening their risk appetite in many regions and lines of business. Traditional insurers are expanding capacity for preferred risks and alternative markets, such as structured insurance and parametrics, are expanding choice for clients and fueling pricing competition. Well-managed and well-performing property risks are consistently oversubscribed. The main exceptions to these buyer-friendly conditions are U.S. excess liability and automobile, where insurers have been limiting their capacity deployment in response to loss trends. Capacity for directors and officers is also beginning to tighten following insurer consolidation and a small number of market withdrawals.
Underwriting is flexible but disciplined. Most insurers are showing greater willingness to quote risks that were previously outside their appetite and are demonstrating a desire to grow and diversify into new segments. They do, however, continue to require complete and up-to-date risk information. Detailed underwriting information is critical for more challenging risk types and lines of business, such as automobile, U.S. excess casualty and placements with significant natural catastrophe exposures or claims.
While many placements are renewing with expiring limits, favorable market conditions are enabling a growing number of clients to use premium savings to bolster limits or restore limits lost in the hard market. Increased limits are available in most markets for property, cyber, directors and officers, and certain casualty placements. Insurers remain cautious of offering higher limits for more challenging risks, such as U.S. casualty, automobile and natural catastrophe-exposed property. Challenging conditions for U.S.-exposed casualty risks are prompting some insureds to reconsider their limits.
Many placements are renewing with expiring deductibles as insurers continue to uphold portfolio remediation actions taken over the last few years. While some insurers are competing by offering lower deductibles, others – particularly on automobile policies – have pushed for higher deductibles in the face of increased claims costs and accident frequency.
Coverage terms are mostly stable, with placements generally renewing as expiring. That said, many insurers are using coverage as a differentiator, particularly for competitive lines. Favorable market conditions are also providing buyers with additional leverage to enhance coverage terms and remove non-concurrency that had been a consequence of the hard market. For casualty risks, PFAS coverage restrictions are now common, and tighter terms are being applied for privacy and sexual abuse risks.
Capability Overview
Casualty Risk Management and Insurance
Article
2026 P&C Outlook: Navigating Volatility, Unlocking Growth
Expand the options below to read a summary of how the insurance market trended in Q4 2025 across key lines of business, including Automobile, Casualty/Liability, Cyber, Directors & Officers and Property.
| Automobile | Casualty/Liability | Cyber | Directors & Officers | Property | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asia | Moderate | Soft | Soft | Soft | Soft |
| EMEA | Challenging | Soft | Soft | Moderate | Soft |
| Latin America | Soft | Soft | Soft | Soft | Soft |
| North America | Moderate | Moderate | Soft | Moderate | Soft |
| Pacific | Moderate | Soft | Soft | Soft | Soft |
Conditions in the automobile market are moderate-to-challenging across most geographies. Loss trends continue to drive rigorous underwriting, modest price increases and higher deductibles in most markets. Claims costs have been rising due to higher repair costs, values, and compensation payouts. Capacity remains adequate, although some insurers have retrenched as they focus on profitability over growth. Large fleets, public transport and risks with substantial hired, non-owned or contingent exposures typically face the most challenging conditions. Conditions in Latin America are more favorable. In addition, some markets are seeing increased competition for well-performing risks.
The casualty market is broadly soft, with the notable exception of North America, which is experiencing moderate conditions including capacity restrictions on U.S. umbrella and excess liability and moderate price increases in Q4. The impact of nuclear verdicts and litigation funding continues to influence general liability renewals for risks with significant U.S. exposure. For non-U.S.-exposed risk, conditions are favorable with healthy competition and abundant capacity (capacity in Australia is at its highest level since 2018). Non-U.S.-exposed placements are typically achieving modest price reductions at renewal, with broader coverage, increased limits and favorable retentions available in most markets. While generally competitive, casualty insurers remain cautious about emerging risks, with many applying coverage restrictions for PFAS, biometric data, and sexual abuse coverage.
Conditions in the cyber insurance market remain soft overall, characterized by price decreases, broader coverage, and increased limits (almost a fifth of Aon clients purchased additional cyber limits in 2025). However, continued ransomware and cyber business interruption losses, combined with poor loss development of prior years’ privacy liability claims, has led to a moderation of price reductions in some markets such as North America and Asia and a more challenging environment for certain industry classes—including healthcare, airlines and financial institutions. Insurers are closely monitoring the changing risk environment as reliance on digital supply chains is growing and cyber criminals expand their use of artificial intelligence.
The directors and officers market remains buyer-friendly, with ample capacity and healthy competition. Significant rate reductions are still available in many markets, while competitive conditions continue to present clients with opportunities to obtain enhanced coverage as well as review limit adequacy and retentions. Conditions in the U.S. and Europe are more moderate, with flat or nominal pricing reductions on average at Q4 renewals. This moderating trend is being driven by a combination of elevated settlement activity and defense costs in the U.S., persistent macro risks and emerging risks, such as artificial intelligence and cyber security disclosure, and insurer consolidation and market withdrawals. Algorithmic and follow-form capacity has helped mitigate these pressures.
Driven by buoyant investment returns and underwriting results, as well as reduced major loss activity (no major hurricanes made landfall in the U.S. for the first time since 2015), soft market conditions continued in Q4. Capacity remains ample and competition for preferred risks is strong as insurers quote risks previously outside of their appetite, including those in higher-risk occupancies. This is leading to a flexible underwriting environment and the opportunity to expand previously restricted coverage and increase limits. Well-performing risks, especially large, shared and layered placements, are experiencing double-digit rate reductions in many markets. Favorable year-end treaty reinsurance renewals are expected to fuel continued price competition into 2026.
Below are four key claims trends and developments we’ve been closely monitoring this quarter.
For many organizations, the claims function has traditionally been seen as a downstream, administrative process — activated only after something has gone wrong. That view is changing rapidly. As insurance programs become more complex and insurer participation more fragmented, claims performance is emerging as a core test of whether a risk strategy is truly fit for purpose. Larger and more frequent severe losses are testing structures, relationships and the effectiveness of risk capital decisions in real time. In this environment, many clients are taking a closer look at insurers’ claims performance and their approach to claims, treating these as indicators of whether an insurer may be a good fit for their insurance program.
Digital tools are reshaping the claims journey. AI and automation are increasingly taking on repetitive, process-heavy steps — capturing data, triaging notifications, and accelerating routine decisions — so that claims professionals can focus on complex, high-stakes matters. Used correctly, these technologies enhance the client experience, while human judgment remains central to fair outcomes and nuanced negotiations. The future model is not “claims without people,” but “people augmented by better tools.”
This shift creates a delicate balancing act for insurers. They must harness AI and automation to drive efficiency and cost savings while still attracting, developing and retaining claims talent who can bring expertise, empathy and judgment to the most critical situations. Those who get this balance right will be best placed to deliver the consistent, high-quality claims outcomes that clients increasingly expect.
Against this backdrop, risk leaders are opting to partner with insurers who treat claims as a differentiator, not an administrative cost center – and who can demonstrate how their use of AI and automation supports, rather than replaces, expert claims handling. Similarly, partnering with a broker who recognizes the importance of digital tools, insights and automation, coupled with deep advocacy expertise, is essential to ensuring that the risk transfer strategy performs as intended.
“By combining advanced analytics and automation with globally consistent claims advocacy and linking that to real-time market insight we’re giving clients a faster, more transparent and more predictable claims experience that directly connects risk capital decisions to real-world outcomes,” says Mona Barnes, Chief Claims Officer, Commercial Risk, at Aon.
Claims are no longer just a record of what went wrong; they are a critical input into how organizations manage risk capital going forward. Advanced analytics can reveal where losses are clustered, which drivers are most material, and where mitigation is likely to have the biggest impact. This allows risk leaders to answer important questions:
Realizing this value requires overcoming data fragmentation and disjointed legacy systems and managing heightened cyber risk as more information is aggregated and shared.
Modern claims platforms are turning what used to be a “black box” into a more visible, manageable process for risk teams. A single, integrated environment can:
When modern claims platforms are coupled with advanced tools on the placement side, these platforms can help create a feedback loop between how risks are underwritten and how claims are resolved — supporting more predictable, accountable and value driven-outcomes.
For risk leaders, the message is clear: claims are where risk capital decisions meet reality. By embracing digital claims capabilities and insisting on data driven, transparent performance from insurer partners, organizations can turn the claims function into a strategic lever for resilience, long-term value, and growth.
For more information, refer to the “Digital Claims Transformation: What Risk Leaders Need to Know” article.
Expand the options below to read a summary of regional insurance market trends from Q4 2025.
For more detailed analysis including claims trends, download and read the full report here.
| Overall | Pricing | Capacity | Underwriting | Limits | Deductibles | Coverages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asia | Soft | -1-10% | Abundant | Flexible | Flat | Flat | Broader |
| Automobile | Casualty/Liability | Cyber | Directors & Officers | Property | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asia | Moderate | Soft | Soft | Soft | Soft |
| Overall | Pricing | Capacity | Underwriting | Limits | Deductibles | Coverages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EMEA | Soft | -1-10% | Abundant | Flexible | Flat | Flat | Stable |
| Automobile | Casualty/Liability | Cyber | Directors & Officers | Property | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EMEA | Challenging | Soft | Soft | Moderate | Soft |
| Overall | Pricing | Capacity | Underwriting | Limits | Deductibles | Coverages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latin America | Soft | -11-20% | Abundant | Flexible | Increased | Decreased | Stable |
| Automobile | Casualty/Liability | Cyber | Directors & Officers | Property | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latin America | Soft | Soft | Soft | Soft | Soft |
| Overall | Pricing | Capacity | Underwriting | Limits | Deductibles | Coverages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | Moderate | Flat | Ample | Prudent | Flat | Flat | Stable |
| Automobile | Casualty/Liability | Cyber | Directors & Officers | Property | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | Moderate | Moderate | Soft | Moderate | Soft |
| Overall | Pricing | Capacity | Underwriting | Limits | Deductibles | Coverages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific | Soft | -11-20% | Abundant | Flexible | Increased | Flat | Broader |
| Automobile | Casualty/Liability | Cyber | Directors & Officers | Property | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific | Moderate | Soft | Soft | Soft | Soft |
To see our full analysis of market conditions and our advice to clients, download the report here.
Report
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