Politicians, government officials and insurance industry leaders will next week depart for Washington DC, New York, Zurich and London to examine how a new set of risks is reshaping the market and driving policy challenges globally. 

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) says economic instability and geopolitical shifts, along with worsening extreme weather, acceleration of artificial intelligence and rising social inflation are adding to the cost of risk. 

The study tour from September 29 to October 7 will focus on what these pressures mean for cover availability and affordability and how governments and industry can work in partnership to respond. 

“Cyber, artificial intelligence and geopolitical disruption do not stop at borders, and no single country is going to work them out alone,” CEO Andrew Hall said. 

“Sitting down with the people underwriting and regulating these risks in the world's largest markets is how we get ahead of them rather than react to them.” 

ICA says risk is increasingly interconnected, with a single technology failure or geopolitical shock capable of driving losses across organisations, sectors and countries.  

Worsening extreme weather, development in high-risk areas, rising asset values and inflation are also widening the gap between those who can and can’t afford cover, placing pressure on the private market and the public purse, it says. 

Delegates will meet elected officials, ambassadors, regulators, capital providers and heads of industry across Capitol Hill, Wall Street, London’s Square Mile and Zurich's reinsurance market.  

“Every country we are visiting is working through the same question, which is who carries the cost when a risk outgrows the system built to hold it,” Mr Hall said. “That applies to a cyber event that hits thousands of businesses at once and to a flood that hits thousands of homes.” 

Mr Hall says Australia is one of the most disaster-exposed countries and its floods, fires and cyclones have “taught us more than most” about what reduces risk and what only shifts costs around. 

“We go into these rooms with as much to offer as we have to learn, and it is an opportunity to show global capital what Australia is doing on resilience, mitigation and innovation,” he said. 

ICA has hosted similar previous delegations, including a 2023 trip with former Assistant Treasurer and Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones. Current minister Daniel Mulino participated in last year’s delegation.