AI, cyber, and climate change will be the key insurance themes in 2026

AI, cyber insurance, and climate change/natural catastrophes were highlighted as the three themes that will have the biggest impact on insurance in 2026 as part of GlobalData’s annual predictions webinars. Insurers that establish themselves as leaders in these themes will see improved performance, products, and customer service.

AI is undoubtedly the leading technology trend in the insurance industry at present. The emergence of agentic AI throughout 2025 has only increased the buzz around the technology and its capabilities. Its impact can be felt throughout the value chain, and agentic AI’s ability to react to live information and make human-like decisions will accelerate the impact AI has on insurance in 2026 and beyond.

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The total value of M&A deals completed within AI in insurance skyrocketed in 2025, registering growth of 328% in terms of value and 125% in terms of volume. Driven in part by the rise of generative and especially agentic AI, this trend was replicated in GlobalData’s other signals databases. Our jobs and company filings databases show strong growth within AI in insurance, which indicates it is an area of focus for insurers. One example was Munich Re’s July 2025 acquisition of Next Insurance—a technology-first commercial property and casualty insurer with a focus on AI and digitalisation.

Cyber and climate change/natural catastrophes are also key themes. Cyber insurance is continuing to see vast growth, and we forecast that to continue to 2030. We estimate the global cyber insurance market to be worth $22.2bn in 2025 and $35.4bn by 2030. Climate change, the rise of severe weather events around the world, and natural catastrophe insurance are major issues for insurers—and their impact will only continue to increase in the coming years. Natural fire and hazards insurance is a major insurance product globally, with premiums and claims seeing sharp annual increases, which are forecast to continue. The regularity of severe weather events is a huge threat to the industry and large areas of the world are becoming uninsurable, which is a major problem for consumers.

The webinar chose these themes due to the impact they are already having and how we anticipate them to grow in importance (and value) in 2026 and beyond. Insurers should be focusing on these three themes as we head into 2026.