Gallagher is highlighting findings from Chubb’s 2025 Australia Wealth Report, saying the research aligns with its own analysis of how Australia’s high-net-worth households are reassessing protection for investments, property, collections, and digital assets amid shifting economic and environmental conditions.
In commentary directed at affluent clients and advisers, Gallagher reports that Chubb’s wealth report reinforces patterns seen in its survey of 200 Australians with more than $5 million in investible assets. Both sources identify market volatility, climate exposures, and cyber threats as key pressures on accumulated wealth. Chubb’s report states that “to protect the irreplaceable – whether a collection, or a carefully cultivated lifestyle – requires an understanding of how risk manifests in everyday life and across generations.” Gallagher refers to this theme in outlining a protection approach that combines insurance with valuation discipline, physical risk controls, and estate planning. Across the high-net-worth segment, Chubb notes that loss of investment value is the leading concern, identified by 91% of respondents, with loss of income from employment or business activity cited by 83%. Family-related issues, including divorce, are a concern for about three-quarters of respondents, alongside fears about crime, fraud, litigation, and policy changes that could alter the tax treatment of wealth.
Gallagher and Chubb both point to residential property as a major component of high-net-worth balance sheets. Chubb reports that 90% of Australian HNWIs hold at least two homes, and says these properties often contain concentrations of movable wealth such as fine art and high-end interiors. According to Chubb’s claims experience, internal water damage has become one of the more frequent and costly household loss types in this segment. Even limited leaks can lead to structural work, replacement of specialist materials, and restoration of valuable contents, with claim costs that can reach six figures.
Gallagher links this experience to the need for systematic property maintenance, particularly for larger or intermittently occupied homes. The firm’s checklist for affluent clients includes updating appraisals and valuations at least every five years, using alarm and security systems when properties are unoccupied, keeping vehicles in secure garages, clearing gutters and surface drainage regularly, and arranging annual plumbing inspections with attention to flexi-hoses and other common failure points. Survey participants also rated a wide range of other property risks as moderate or high, including bushfire, non-weather-related fire, weather-related water damage, burglary, vandalism, liability for injuries on the premises, and damage arising during renovations.
Environmental exposures are a recurring element in Chubb’s findings. Chubb reports that 93% of the affluent respondents are at least moderately concerned about climate-related threats to their wealth. Three of the five most significant perceived risks to home ownership relate to fire and water, reflecting Australia’s exposure to severe weather and bushfire in areas where high-value properties are often located. Chubb’s report refers to “nature’s growing unpredictability” and cites the Bureau of Meteorology’s (BoM) State of the Climate analysis, which finds that extreme heat events across land and oceans are becoming more frequent. In that environment, wealthy households face simultaneous risks from riverine and flash flooding, cyclones, bushfires, and longer-term stress on buildings and infrastructure.
Among respondents with more than $50 million in investible assets, Chubb found high uptake of physical protection measures, with 70% reporting installation of state-of-the-art home security systems and 62% reporting additional measures such as security lighting and perimeter fencing. Gallagher notes that for insurers and brokers, these patterns are relevant to discussions on risk engineering, location-specific catastrophe exposures, and appropriate limits and sublimits for property programs.
A central theme in Chubb’s research, which Gallagher draws out in its commentary, is the growing role of personal collections in wealth portfolios. Chubb reports that only 21% of Australian HNWIs say they do not own a collection, implying that nearly 79% do. Around 23% of these collections are valued at more than $5 million. According to Chubb, “collections are evolving from hobbies into legacy assets, passed down through generations as expressions of identity and enduring value.” The report notes that 70% of HNWIs plan to acquire jewellery and gems to build their collections, with continued interest in watches, designer accessories, rare coins, fine art, collector cars, sports items, and wine. In 2024, 46% of wealthy Australians surveyed intended to expand their collections, highlighting their role as both investments and personal assets.
Gallagher underscores the gap between the growth of these assets and the development of formal plans to pass them on. Chubb’s data show that 61% of Gen Z and 40% of millennials do not yet know who will inherit their collections. More broadly, while 70% of respondents say they have a wealth transfer strategy embedded in their estate plan, 68% of those with $5 million to $10 million in investible assets report having no estate plan at all. For insurance professionals, this “legacy gap” can affect how policies are structured and maintained, including the completeness of schedules, the currency of valuations, and the ability of coverage to reflect intended transfers across generations.
Gallagher also points to Chubb’s findings on cyber and data risks as wealth management continues to move online. Chubb describes the digital environment as “another doorway for cyber criminals to access sensitive personal and financial data,” noting the spread of online banking, digital investment platforms, cloud-based documentation, and emerging digital assets. Using Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, the report notes that 10% of Australians experienced card fraud in 2023–24, with scam victimisation rising from 2.5% to 3.1%, and card fraud increasing from 8.7% to 9.9% over the same period. Within the HNWI segment, around 60% identify cyber risk as a considerable concern for their wealth portfolio.
Chubb observes that older cohorts, particularly post-war generations, are less likely to see emerging cyber and artificial intelligence-related threats as priority issues, despite the potential for direct financial loss, identity theft, and reputational damage. Gallagher notes that advisory discussions in this space may need to address differences in perception within families and across generations, covering basic controls, identity protection, and the scope of personal cyber insurance.
By referencing Chubb’s wealth report alongside its own client data, Gallagher indicates that Australia’s high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth market is moving toward more integrated protection strategies. According to Gallagher, areas of focus for insurers, underwriters, and brokers working in this segment include:
Gallagher also points to the importance of coordination with legal and financial advisers so that insurance programs support, rather than lag, formal estate and wealth transfer plans. For insurance professionals, the combined findings from Chubb and Gallagher provide a framework for engaging affluent clients on how they earn, hold, and pass on wealth, and how risk transfer can be matched to those patterns.
