Stephen Frank
President of the Global Federation of Insurance Associations (GFIA).

Stephen Frank is President of the Global Federation of Insurance Associations (GFIA).

With more than 20 years of public and private sector experience, he advocates globally for sound insurance policy. He holds a Master’s in Finance from the University of Cambridge and an Honours BA in Economics from Queen’s University.

Navigating a shifting global landscape: strengthening insurability in a riskier world

As 2026 begins, the global insurance sector finds itself at a pivotal juncture. The year 2025 brought no shortage of challenges: intensifying climate impacts, new geopolitical tensions, inflationary pressures, and shifting demographics. Yet, amid this uncertainty, insurers reaffirmed their essential role in helping individuals, businesses, and societies withstand disruption and recover from loss. In fact, these kinds of risks are the ones that insurance is best positioned to help mitigate. The current environment is defined by both opportunities and challenges.

A central theme in 2025 was insurability – how to ensure that insurance remains available, affordable, accessible, and understood through good awareness by those who need it most. These “four A’s” framed GFIA’s flagship paper ‘Pathways to protection’, published in October 2025, which emphasised that closing protection gaps cannot rest on insurers alone. While insurers continue to adapt products and distribution channels to evolving risks and customer needs, sustainable progress requires coordinated action across the public and private sectors, alongside stronger financial education and awareness.

From climate resilience to retirement security, from health coverage to cyber protection, the availability of insurance is increasingly shaped by the regulatory, economic, and social context in which risks arise. This is why GFIA continues to call for a closer partnership with regulators and policymakers to solve these big challenges. Success at strengthening insurability will combine smarter regulation, improved data-sharing, risk-mitigation partnerships, and targeted public support where appropriate.

Despite the scale of the challenges, 2025 was also a year of meaningful progress. GFIA deepened its engagement with global institutions such as the IAIS, OECD, and IMF on critical issues ranging from sustainability and financial inclusion to the responsible use of AI in insurance. The sector’s role as both a long-term investor and a partner in building societal resilience was also increasingly recognised. Internally, GFIA strengthened coordination across its working groups and enhanced its communications to ensure its voice remained visible and credible on the global stage.

Looking ahead to 2026, the risk landscape shows no signs of easing. At its heart, insurance is a promise to support people and businesses recover and thrive. In a world where risks are rising faster than coverage, that promise is under strain, but it is also more vital than ever. As 2026 unfolds, GFIA will continue to champion a global policy environment that sustains insurability in all its dimensions, promotes innovation, and reinforces insurance as a cornerstone of stability, security, and shared prosperity.