Sedgwick’s 2026 Global Risk Study highlighted a risk environment that is becoming more complex, interconnected and difficult to insure, according to insights gathered from Fortune 500 executives, Sedgwick clients and insurance industry leaders.
The results pointed to growing pressure on insurers, claims managers and risk professionals as organizations face overlapping operational, technological and catastrophe-driven exposures.
One of the study’s key findings was that artificial intelligence has moved from a future concern to an active risk management priority. Executives reported uneven levels of AI readiness, with governance frameworks lagging behind deployment. From an insurance perspective, this is translating into heightened concern around professional liability, errors and omissions exposure, and the defensibility of AI-assisted decisions in underwriting, claims handling and workplace management.
Catastrophe risk continues to rank among the most significant threats, with respondents citing longer recovery periods and rising loss severity following major weather events. The study found that organizations are increasingly challenged by delayed repairs, labour shortages and supply constraints, all of which are contributing to more complex and costly claims. These trends are placing strain on traditional loss models and prompting greater scrutiny of policy wordings, sublimits and recovery assumptions.
Supply chain disruption also remains a dominant risk, with many respondents reporting that shocks are no longer isolated events but ongoing conditions. The results suggest growing exposure to contingent business interruption losses, particularly where dependencies are not fully mapped or disclosed at placement.
Workforce-related risks emerged as another material concern. Talent shortages, changing work patterns and mental health pressures are contributing to higher workers’ compensation and liability exposure, while also affecting insurers’ own ability to staff claims and technical roles.
The study’s results indicated a shift toward sustained volatility rather than episodic risk. Sedgwick’s findings suggested insurers and risk managers will need to place greater emphasis on resilience, claims preparedness and data-driven decision-making as traditional insurance mechanisms are tested by the scale and persistence of emerging risks heading into 2026.
