Media Release 17 June 2026
NEW JOINT IUA AIRMIC REPORT SEEKS TO CLOSE INSURANCE PROTECTION GAPS
Insurance protection gaps are the focus for a new report published jointly by the International Underwriting Association (IUA) and Airmic. Such gaps emerge as organisations face risks that insurance cannot fully cover, as some exposures are too uncertain to price or losses may be too large for commercial markets to absorb. Increasingly, some emerging risks are also simply too new and lack the necessary data for insurance products to have developed.
Meanwhile, 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 the 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.
The new report ‘Closing the Protection Gap’ seeks to address these challenges with other recommendations for how insurance 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 report – the result of a series of roundtables held with Airmic and IUA members, with KPMG as a thought leadership partner – also recommends establishing three-way engagement between underwriters, brokers and buyers, as well as greater investment in education for risk managers.
Tom Hughes, Director of Underwriting at the IUA, said: “There is consensus among underwriters and insurance buyers, particularly large organisations, that the protection gap is real, structural, and growing. Both parties want a different conversation and getting that conversation right is the key to ensuring the long-term value of the insurance industry.
“The IUA and Airmic will be working together to promote a new approach with greater communication and sharing of knowledge. A better understanding of clients and risk profiles is in the interests of all and will result in better pricing, fewer disputes, and longer-term relationships.”
Diane Maxwell, CEO of Airmic, said: “The insurance industry is confronting a widening protection gap, as organisations face an unprecedented convergence of emerging risks. They are creating exposures which existing products, distribution channels, and capital structures do not fully address. Better understanding of the client risk profile is in the commercial interest of the market, producing better pricing, and better relationships.”
Ends
Contact:
Leigh-Anne Slade
Head of Media, Communications and Interest Groups,
Airmic
[email protected]
07956 41 78 77
Contact:
Scott Farley
Director of Communications
International Underwriting Association
Tel: 0207 617 4449
Mobile: 07921 699 218
E-mail: [email protected]
Notes to Editors:
About the IUA
The International Underwriting Association of London (IUA) is the representative body for companies in London providing international and wholesale insurance and reinsurance coverage. Its mission statement is to secure an optimal trading environment for London insurance companies.
About Airmic
Airmic is the UK’s largest and most vibrant risk management and insurance association. Airmic has over 450 corporate members and 2,000 individual members, and is supported by a network of leading risk and insurance partners and affiliated institutes, associations, and universities.
We are growing through welcoming both those in the risk and insurance professions, and in roles connected to risk and insurance.
We have taken a leading position in the future of risk financing, including alternative risk financing solutions. As such, we are in a strong position to represent the views of our members, and to advocate for their needs within business, standards and regulatory bodies, and government in the UK and internationally. We are active members of FERMA, the Federation of European Risk Management Associations, and IFRIMA, the International Federation of Risk and Insurance Management Associations.
Our members enjoy access to a wide variety of face-to-face and online events, networking, special interest groups, regional meetings, and learning opportunities supported by a competency framework and mentoring scheme. Our online library features work by leaders in the profession, including research, guides, papers, newsletters, and resources.