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General Insurance Market Update: September 2026

The insurance market continues to show resilience, but the shape of that growth is becoming more selective. Hiring remains comparatively strong, yet firms are being increasingly deliberate about where they invest, which capabilities they prioritise and how they protect specialist expertise. That same selectivity is evident across M&A and leadership. Capital is concentrating around differentiated specialty businesses, integration is becoming a bigger part of the value-creation story, and senior roles are evolving to reflect greater demand for analytics, digital capability and commercial transformation. For insurers, the common thread is execution: having the right people in place to convert market opportunity into sustainable growth. In this month’s update, we look at the market shifts, transactions and leadership moves shaping that agenda.IDEX insight: what this month’s market activity meansDespite a degree of economic uncertainty, this month’s market update points to an insurance sector that is still investing and evolving, albeit becoming much more deliberate about where it places capital, leadership and headcount. Growth depends on having scarce expertise in place before the business needs it urgently. One of the clearest examples of that challenge are the ongoing skills gaps being felt across the actuarial function. With a relatively small global talent pool and growing demand across pricing, reserving, capital and modelling, firms are struggling to ensure they have the right capability in the right places to support commercial decision-making, protect business continuity and deliver future growth. We’re also seeing a shift in what businesses need from actuarial talent. Technical qualification remains essential, but the greater point of differentiation is commercial fluency. As automation accelerates elements of technical work, that ability to interpret, challenge and influence becomes more valuable, not less. Read more in IDEX’s latest insight: Close the Coming Skills Gaps With Specialist Actuarial Recruitment Recruit actuarial talent against the next business constraint: Demand remains tight across pricing, reserving and capital, with MGAs also building more actuarial capability. Ask where a lack of actuarial expertise could stop you pricing effectively, entering a market or supporting future growth. Commercial influence is hardest to hire for: Technical qualification is the baseline. The scarcer capability is finding actuaries who can challenge underwriting, translate modelling into commercial decisions and explain the implications of pricing and capital choices to senior leadership Map points of failure before the market exposes them: Succession planning needs to start well before a senior actuary resigns or retires. If critical knowledge, regulatory sign-off or commercial relationships sit with one or two individuals, recruitment becomes significantly harder once that turns into an urgent vacancy. The stronger approach is to build deputies, transfer knowledge and understand external talent availability before pressure arrives. Question for leaders: If one of your most experienced actuaries left tomorrow, where would the business feel it first — pricing, capital, regulatory delivery or growth? Have you built the internal and external talent options to protect that capability?Insurance market newsThis month’s insurance news shows a market balancing resilience with rising competitive pressure and where sustained performance increasingly depends on specialist expertise, strong leadership and disciplined execution. London’s lead no longer something the market can take for granted: London remains one of the world’s leading financial centres and the pre-eminent global hub for complex specialty risk, but its competitive position is being tested. The latest Global Financial Centres Index places London fifth in its insurance-specific ranking. Strong Lloyd’s results suggest this is not a story of immediate decline, but of intensifying competition for capital, business and influence. IDEX view: London’s advantage has always rested on the concentration of specialist underwriting, broking and leadership talent that makes complex risks placeable. As competing centres invest and grow, retaining that expertise becomes a strategic issue. Firms that want to protect or expand their London position will need to think just as carefully about succession, specialist capability and attracting internationally mobile talent as they do about pricing and capacity. Insurance hiring holding up, but resilience does not mean business as usual: Against a UK employment market that has recorded seven consecutive months of falling payroll numbers, finance and insurance remains one of the few major sectors with more employees than a year ago. Sector headcount was around 3,900 higher year-on-year in August, although it dipped month-on-month, pointing to a market that is proving more resilient than the wider economy without being immune to the slowdown. IDEX view: Insurance businesses are still investing in people, but the market is more selective about where headcount creates value. For firms, that increases the importance of securing proven specialists and leaders in areas tied directly to growth and underwriting performance. For professionals, a resilient market offers opportunity, but differentiation and specialist expertise matter as businesses are more deliberate about every hire. Greensill leaves a much bigger lesson than one settled claim: IAG has reached a confidential settlement with Credit Suisse over approximately A$3bn of claims connected to the collapse of Greensill Capital. At the heart of the dispute were fundamental questions around underwriting authority, agency relationships and whether cover had been validly bound, issues that remain relevant to the broader insurance market. IDEX view: Cases of this scale underline the value of technical expertise when increasingly complex risks move through multiple parties, authorities and structures. Strong underwriting governance matters, but so does having experienced people capable of challenging risk, understanding delegated authority and managing difficult claims when things go wrong. As specialty products and distribution models become more sophisticated, firms cannot afford for technical capability to lag behind commercial ambition. Mergers and acquisitionsInsurance M&A activity has not run out of momentum, however capital is becoming more selective and the strategic rationale has to work harder. Zurich–Beazley moves from dealmaking to delivery: Zurich’s £8.1bn acquisition of Beazley is set to become effective on 1 October. Zurich has positioned the combination as the foundation for a global specialty insurance leader, with approximately $15bn of pro-forma specialty gross written premium. The focus will soon shift to integrating two substantial specialist businesses. Specialty assets take bigger share of smaller deal market: Overall UK insurance distribution M&A has slowed, with 56 announced transactions through August; 16% fewer than at the same point last year. Yet specialty and wholesale businesses now represent 29% of UK sector deals in 2026. Capital is concentrating around differentiated MGAs, Lloyd’s brokers and specialist propositions. The consolidation machine is more selective:The slowdown is not confined to the UK. Brokerage deal volumes have fallen in North America too. High leverage, years of bolt-on acquisitions and unfinished integration are raising the threshold for new deals, creating a widening gap between businesses able to command strategic valuations and those facing a much narrower buyer pool. Brokers are moving further into the insurance value chain: MNK Group’s acquisition of Danish insurer ETU Forsikring gives the London-based group its own EU-regulated insurance balance sheet alongside its broking and MGA operations. The model offers greater control over European capacity, underwriting strategy and placement economics, while reducing dependence on third-party carrier relationships, another sign that traditional boundaries between broker, MGA and carrier are becoming less fixed. IDEX view: Buyers are prioritising differentiated specialty capability, stronger control of distribution and businesses where there is a credible route to value creation after completion. Integration leadership, specialist producers, underwriting expertise and the ability to retain key teams can determine whether an acquisition delivers the growth promised in the deal thesis. Talent strategy cannot begin after the transaction closes; it needs to form part of the transaction strategy itself.People moves and senior appointmentsSenior moves this month point to a wider change in what insurance leadership teams are being built to deliver. AIG faces another significant succession decision:Jon Hancock will retire as CEO of AIG General Insurance at the end of 2026, with no successor yet announced. The position covers a substantial global remit, making the eventual appointment an important leadership decision at a time when the wider business is already transitioning under CEO Eric Andersen. Sompo changes UK leadership as Aspen integration enters its next phase: Nicolas Berg will take over as CEO of Sompo’s UK insurance business from 1 October, bringing extensive P&C, specialty and reinsurance experience from SCOR and AIG. His arrival comes only months after Sompo completed its $3.5bn acquisition of Aspen, placing new leadership at the centre of the work to integrate a substantial specialty book and strengthen Sompo’s UK commercial insurance position. Canopius puts analytics directly into the leadership structure: Long-standing group Chief Actuary Nick Betteridge Canopius steps into the role of group Chief Analytics Officer. AI, machine learning, data science, analytics and pricing will now sit under one executive function, reflecting an approach in which technology is organised around underwriting and business outcomes rather than treated as a standalone programme. Chubb splits digital leadership as mandate broadens:Chubb has divided responsibility for its global digital business between two senior leaders following Sean Ringsted’s move into a chief scientist role. Johan Oosthuizen will lead the global digital business, while Gabriel Lazaro will focus on digital growth and strategic consumer partnerships. IDEX view: Traditional succession remains critical, particularly across underwriting and P&C, but insurers are simultaneously reshaping senior roles around integration, analytics, digital distribution and technology-enabled growth. The result is a complex leadership market. Businesses need executives who combine insurance credibility with the ability to lead transformation, build new capabilities and translate investment into commercial outcomes. Defining that mandate clearly is important because the pool of leaders who genuinely bridge technical insurance expertise and transformation experience remains limited.Monthly Insurance Market Updates, Backed by Hiring ExpertiseStay close to the General Insurance market with monthly updates covering market news, M&A activity, senior appointments, leadership moves and IDEX insight. Subscribe to the monthly newsletter to understand not just what has happened, but what it could mean for growth, hiring, succession and market positioning. The IDEX Salary Calculator gives Insurance professionals access to market-specific compensation insight, helping them benchmark pay and make informed career decisions. Check your salary is in line with market ratesFinding the right people does not need to slow your growth. IDEX uses deep market knowledge and established sector relationships to connect firms with skilled professionals who can support long-term performance. Review your advice team capacity

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Rethinking Succession Planning to Build a Sustainable Insurance Leadership Pipeline

Succession planning traditionally focuses on who might replace members of the executive team. However, those appointments represent only a small part of the wider talent risk facing insurance businesses. Demographic pressure in insurance is difficult to ignore. More than one quarter of UK insurance employees are over 50, while 50% of the current insurance workforce could retire within the next 15 years. Potential losses include decades of client knowledge and experience. A sustainable insurance leadership pipeline must protect the middle managers and technical specialists whose capabilities translate strategy into profitable performance and growth. It must also identify the Account Executives, Client Managers, producers and technical specialists whose knowledge and client relationships create significant exposure if they leave.What Is Succession Planning in Insurance? Succession planning is the structured process of identifying roles critical to business continuity, and creating the development, recruitment and retention plans needed to protect future capability. In insurance, this should extend beyond board and executive appointments to include professionals whose departure can still create significant commercial exposure. An effective insurance leadership pipeline should account for three connected risks: Leadership Risk Who will set direction, make decisions and maintain accountability? Capability Risk Which technical skills or areas of judgement would be difficult to replace? Relationship Risk Which client, broker, carrier or market relationships depend too heavily on one individual? If that person left tomorrow, how much revenue could realistically follow them? This broader approach moves succession planning away from replacement and towards resilience.Why Insurance Succession Planning Is Particularly Challenging Insurance firms face several challenges that make succession planning more complex. First, much of the industry’s value is based on knowledge that is difficult to document. Underwriting judgement develops through exposure to risk and market cycles. A procedure manual cannot fully capture why an experienced underwriter chose to decline a risk, challenge a model or adjust a portfolio strategy. Second, relationships remain commercially important. Clients and market partners place trust in particular individuals, especially in specialist and relationship-led segments such as marine insurance. The risk is particularly acute in broking businesses where an Account Executive or Client Manager may have spent years building personal trust with a portfolio of clients. If that individual leaves, the business may be defending a book of business worth millions. Where the client identifies more strongly with the individual than the firm, a poorly managed departure can lead directly to lost revenue and, in extreme cases, threaten the viability of the business. Third, the talent entering the market may not be sufficient to replace those preparing to leave. One survey of UK insurance brokers found that while 66% of firms are eager to recruit younger employees, around half struggle to hire those aged 30 and under. This is especially pronounced in the London Market where the under-30 population is estimated to fall from 24% of the workforce to 7% over the next ten years. Firms cannot assume the next generation will naturally emerge in sufficient numbers. Building an insurance leadership pipeline that addresses these issues requires deliberate early intervention. The Four Stages of Succession Planning The following four stages of succession planning provide a practical framework for turning workforce risk into an actionable plan to build a sustainable insurance leadership pipeline. 1. Identify Business-Critical Roles Start by assessing where a departure would have the greatest impact on performance. Ask: Which individuals personally manage our largest or most strategically important client relationships? What percentage of revenue or client income is concentrated around them? Would those clients see their relationship as being with the business or with that individual? If that individual resigned tomorrow, who could credibly take over the relationship? Where do we have no secondary relationship between the client and the wider business? 2. Assess Succession Readiness Once critical roles have been identified, assess how prepared the business really is to replace them. Ask: Do we have someone who could step into this role immediately if needed? Which potential successors could be ready within two or three years? Where do we have high-potential people who still require significant development? Have potential successors demonstrated the technical and commercial behaviours the role requires? Can they operate at the broader level of accountability the role demands? 3. Build Targeted Development Plans Development should be based on what each potential successor still needs to prove. Ask: Where could stretch assignments or acting responsibilities test their readiness? Would cross-functional projects give them broader commercial or operational exposure? Do they need greater involvement in strategic planning or senior decision-making? Which client, broker, carrier or market relationships should they begin building now? Who could mentor them to accelerate the transfer of knowledge and relationships? 4. Review, Test and Refresh the Plan Business priorities change and new capability requirements emerge. Succession plans evolve as the business changes. Ask: Do the roles identified as business-critical still reflect our strategy and growth priorities? Have potential successors demonstrated the capability we expected them to develop? If we promoted someone would that create another critical gap elsewhere? Have new capability, client or relationship risks emerged since the plan was last reviewed? What would be the financial impact if a critical position remained unfilled for an extended period? Does the proposed successor actually want the role? How to Identify Critical Successors Beyond the Senior Tier Critical successors to key roles are not always easily visible. High performance in a current role can be an indicator of potential, but it should not be the only one. Look for people who: Hold commercially significant client relationships Have credibility with clients, carriers or market partners Are protecting or growing a material book of business Hold knowledge that cannot easily be transferred Represent a significant retention risk if competitors were to hire them A credible senior insurance talent strategy should also avoid assuming that every future leader will follow the same career path. Employees should understand what progression can look like, which capabilities matter and what experiences will prepare them for broader responsibility. Broadening the definition of leadership allows firms to retain valuable expertise while creating more relevant and motivating development routes. Building Development Routes Around Critical Capabilities Succession planning fails when organisations do not create enough opportunity for potential to develop. A sustainable insurance leadership pipeline needs practical routes through which people can build judgement and confidence. This could include involvement in annual business planning or responsibility for strategic projects. Other options include rotating talent across the business or pairing emerging leaders with experienced market mentors. Knowledge transfer should also be an active process, rather than passive documentation. For client-facing roles, development should also include deliberate relationship succession. Important accounts should not depend on a single point of contact. Introducing future successors into client meetings, renewal discussions and strategic conversations builds continuity before a departure forces the issue. External hiring can strengthen internal succession. A senior insurance talent strategy should not present internal development and external recruitment as competing choices. External appointments introduce non-existent capabilities and provide experienced mentors for the next generation. Making Succession Planning Part of Business Strategy Succession planning should be a shared leadership responsibility that connects succession plans to wider growth ambitions. In this way, a strong insurance leadership pipeline becomes a visible system Operations leaders should identify process and knowledge dependencies. HR should provide structure, challenge assumptions and support development. Line managers should create the experiences through which future leaders become ready. The board should also understand where talent risk could affect strategic delivery. For example: How much revenue is currently dependent on client relationships owned predominantly by one individual? Which of our largest accounts would be most vulnerable if their Account Executive or Client Manager joined a competitor? Do strategic clients have relationships with several people in the organisation, or only one? Are successors being retained, developed and rewarded appropriately? Building a Sustainable Insurance Leadership Pipeline The demographic challenges facing insurance cannot be addressed by focusing only on senior leadership talent. Continuity depends on the strength of the layers beneath them and on emerging professionals. IDEX works with insurance leaders to identify critical capability requirements, helping them build a senior insurance talent strategy aligned with future business performance. Our market-led approach helps organisations plan for continuity across revenue-critical, client-facing roles rather than responding only when a vacancy becomes urgent. Build a sustainable insurance leadership pipeline that strengthens leadership capacity and supports long-term growth. Contact IDEX to discuss your succession and talent priorities.

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