Swiss Re pushes insurers to tackle emerging risks
Swiss Re’s Anna Ziswiler, who oversees the company’s property and casualty reinsurance operations in Southeast Asia, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea, argues that the industry must adapt to evolving threats. While clients encounter increasingly complex risk factors, she insists these can still be assessed and underwritten effectively.
She explains that climate volatility, geopolitical uncertainty, rapid technological change and growing interdependencies add layers of complexity. The executive also points out that the consequences of familiar hazards can become harder to anticipate as exposures grow and values become more concentrated.
Risks and Challenges
She cites the floods across Southeast Asia late last year as an example of the cumulative impact of successive events. The storms resulted in at least $11 billion in economic losses, despite relatively low average exposure in several affected areas.
Data centres represent another illustration of rising risk concentration, with enormous value packed into a single location. A single incident could trigger multiple claims and substantial losses, the head adds.
Opportunities for Swiss Re
She sees a real opportunity for Swiss Re to help clients manage these changes by combining deep risk insight, local market knowledge and a range of risk-transfer tools. It is, she says, about understanding each client’s business and assembling the right expertise to meet their challenges.
Many risk managers voice frustration at carriers’ apparent inability to provide coverage for emerging and new risks because of limited historical loss data. However, she stresses that this is not an insurmountable obstacle for the sector.
Leveraging Existing Risk Knowledge for AI Data Centres
Swiss Re notes that while decades of loss data on AI data centres are limited, many core hazards—construction, fire, equipment failure and business interruption—are well understood. The firm plans to apply this familiar risk base as facilities expand in size and complexity, enhancing its ability to assess emerging exposures. This approach aims to integrate known loss patterns with new operational realities.
According to Ziswiler, data-centre development is further ahead in the United States, providing valuable experience with accumulation risks. She says those insights can be used to help Asian clients anticipate potential exposures before they become significant. Clients can therefore address risk before it materializes into large claims.
Addressing Emerging Risks
When a risk is new, Swiss Re may not have the historical loss data it would normally rely on. That does not mean the firm starts from zero; experience extends far beyond claims records.
The company’s knowledge and judgement, built over 160 years of underwriting, risk engineering and loss management, help it recognise what is familiar and understand what is different. This depth of insight allows the insurer to evaluate novel exposures with confidence.
She also notes that fresh data sources, artificial intelligence and advanced analytical capabilities create new ways to build on that experience. By linking information in novel ways, Swiss Re can deepen its understanding of emerging hazards and help clients anticipate potential exposures while managing risk more effectively.
