Each year, the IIS distributes the Global Priorities Survey to nearly 20,000 C-suite insurance executives and senior leaders across the world. The 2026 findings reveal a sector navigating rapid technological change, economic and geopolitical volatility, increasing regulatory demands, and workforce and trust challenges.

Within this landscape, AI has emerged as the defining priority — marking a shift from future ambition to immediate operational focus — while other pressures continue to shape decision-making. The data points to several key trends:

• 71% of executives cite AI as a top priority, making it the most significant technological and strategic focus across insurance.
• 51% identify technological advancement as their top social and environmental priority, surpassing climate risk for the first time in the study’s history.
• 62% rank financial market volatility as their leading economic concern, overtaking inflation amid growing recession fears.
• 57% of firms are prioritizing technology modernization to improve operational efficiency and address workforce and talent shortages.

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