Emerging risks

Re/insurers operate in a rapidly changing and increasingly complex risk landscape. New demographic, economic, technological, socio-political, regulatory and environmental developments are all capable of changing risks or creating new ones. In addition, growing interdependencies between these developments can lead to accumulations of risk and create significant knock-on effects. People’s risk perceptions are shifting, liability and regulatory regimes continue to evolve and stakeholder expectations are growing.

This complex landscape gives rise to “emerging risks” – newly developing or changing risks that are difficult to quantify and whose potential impact on our business is not yet sufficiently taken into account.

Detecting and investigating such risks early on forms an important part of our comprehensive approach to risk management. In analysing how risks are evolving and related to each other, we seek to assess their potential impact on Swiss Re. This is vital to reduce uncertainty and prevent unforeseen losses, raising awareness within the Group and across the industry.