Insurance Banana Skins 2025
For the first time in its 14-year history, the Insurance Banana Skins report, published biennially by PwC and LFBF think-tank the CSFI (Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation), reveals that technology-related risks now dominate the top three concerns facing the global insurance industry.
Based on insights from hundreds of insurance professionals worldwide, the 2025 survey highlights the extent to which technology-related risks have become embedded, with cyber-crime, artificial intelligence (AI), and technological change identified as the most urgent threats over the next two to three years.
- Cyber-crime retains its position as the number one risk for the third consecutive edition, and its severity score reached an all-time high, driven by the increasing frequency and sophistication of attacks, the proliferation of ransomware-as-a-service, and amplified anxiety towards the disruptive potential of generative AI in the wrong hands.
- The misuse or poor governance of AI has surged in prominence, becoming the fastest-rising risk in the survey. Industry concerns centre on the potential for AI-driven fraud, as well as the risk of regulatory breaches due to inadequate internal controls. While AI clearly presents transformative opportunities for the insurance industry, the report warns that failing to harness its potential could itself become a critical risk.
- The third-ranked risk—failing to keep pace with technological change—reflects long-standing challenges around legacy IT systems and the cost of modernisation. Companies know they are losing money through inefficiencies but are hesitating to commit to updates that may soon be outdated. Because of this, some in the industry see this ‘banana skin’ as less of a risk to the industry, and more one for individual firms – moving forward in this space is a competitive differentiator, at the expense of those slow to adapt.
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