While 2025 is shaping up to be a “broadly supported” year for insurance buyers, Aon said market conditions are becoming increasingly fragmented across product lines and geographies, underscoring the growing need for customized insights and analytics-driven decisions as organizations move into 2026.
Despite generally weak conditions across many major insurance businesses, Aon’s latest Global Insurance Market Insights (GIMI) report for Q4 2025 warns that this favorable environment may be temporary, providing a narrow window for organizations to optimize their programs before emerging pressures begin to impact results.
Aon explained: “Following two strong underwriting years, insurers are well capitalized and competition remains strong. However, this tailwind has been accompanied by intensifying pressures.
“Systemic changes in loss severity, ongoing social inflation, geopolitical challenges and the greater unpredictability of secondary risks continue. The convergence of positive performance from insurers and a broad range of macro risks is creating an opportunity, albeit perhaps temporary, for risk managers to right-size their programs and future-proof them.”
Aon’s Q4 2025 GIMI report also highlights the nuances behind the broad support conditions for insurance buyers last year.
Price reductions, expanded restrictions and wider terms have emerged across key areas, including property, network and directors and officers (D&O) coverage.
Real estate conditions remain weak, buoyed by strong investment returns from insurers, solid underwriting performance and a period of reduced major loss activity.
However, Aon noted that chronically weak lines of defense are slowing as insurers contend with rising claims activity, adverse loss developments and increasing risk complexity.
Casualty lines, particularly those exposed to the U.S. market, are facing increased pressure due to nuclear rulings, litigation funding, and capacity constraints on umbrella and excess liability insurance.
In addition to pricing and capacity, claims capability is becoming a key differentiator. Organizations are placing increasing emphasis on transparency, digital tools, service quality and overall claims excellence when selecting insurance partners.
The report also notes that systemic risk pressures – including social inflation, geopolitical volatility and unpredictable secondary risks – are reshaping underwriting practices, affecting risk selection, limit deployment and portfolio management strategies.
Joe Peiser, CEO of Aon Commercial Risks, commented: “Market conditions continue to diverge across products and geographies, demonstrating that a single, market-wide narrative no longer reflects the big picture. This quarter’s GIMI reinforces the need for nuanced, data-driven conversations to help organizations achieve the strongest results as they enter 2026.”
Mona Barnes, chief claims officer at Aon Commercial Risk, said: “One of the most important themes that emerged from GIMI in Q4 was the increasing impact of claims performance on insurer selection.
“Organizations are increasingly placing a premium on ease of claims settlement, speed of decision-making, and data capabilities that drive efficiency. As expectations rise, Aon is helping clients evaluate performance, understand differences across the market, and make decisions that enhance program resiliency.”
