IUA Circular 059/26

Closing the Protection Gap

Date: 17 June 2026

Interest Groups: IUA member contacts, underwriting interests

Subject: Publication of a new joint report by the IUA and Airmic proposing strategies to close insurance protection gaps.

IUA Contact:  Tom Hughes, Director of Underwriting ( 44 (0)78 2533 4264)

Download 'Closing the Protection Gap' 

Insurance protection gaps are the focus for a new report published jointly by the International Underwriting Association (IUA) and Airmic. This is the first paper published jointly by the organisations seeking to bridge the gap between clients and the insurance market. It explores the key question: How can insurance evolve for an evolving risk landscape?

The report is the result of a series of roundtables held with Airmic and IUA members, with KPMG as a thought leadership partner. It makes recommendations for how protection gaps can be lessened, and even closed. These include reviewing the process by which policy exclusions are finalised for major classes of business and developing new approaches to testing insurance wordings against loss scenarios.

The most consistent issue raised by large buyers is that insurance is structured around product lines rather than around the outcomes they need. The paper makes a further recommendation for the market to pilot outcome-based policy structures for well-defined risk scenarios – particularly relating to data centre failures and supply chain disruption, both of which combine a number of risks areas.

Please access a copy of the full report via the download button at the top of this mailing.