Reinsurance 2035: Rethinking the risk business

New PwC research, Reinsurance 2035: Rethinking the risk business, outlines a bold vision for the future of reinsurance, emphasizing the transformative potential of the Fund and Insure domain.

PwC’s modeling projects that the Fund and Insure domain could contribute up to $17.04 trillion in gross value added by 2035, depending on how climate and technological disruptions unfold. This positions reinsurers at the heart of a new financial ecosystem—one that demands agility, innovation, and cross-sector collaboration.

As global risks intensify and industries converge, reinsurers are being called to reinvent their roles—not just as capital providers, but as orchestrators of resilience and enablers of systemic change.

PwC’s Value in Motion framework identifies domains where economic and societal transformation is accelerating. Among these, Fund and Insure stands out as the financial backbone of the future economy—supporting capital allocation, risk management, and transaction enablement across sectors such as mobility, energy, and healthcare.

While reinsurance leaders are cautiously emboldened by recent strong performance, they are also wary of significant macroeconomic and structural headwinds.

Reinvention pressure at historic highs

PwC’s BMR Pressure Index, which tracks early signs of stress on business models, finds 17 out of 22 global sectors are experiencing the highest levels of reinvention pressure seen in 25 years. The insurance sector ranks second-highest, driven by compounding risks such as climate change, cyber threats, and geopolitical instability. The redistribution of market share in financial services will be significant with PwC estimating that reinvention moves across financial services could lead to a US$604 billion shift in market share in 2025 alone.

Arthur Wightman, territory and Insurance Leader, PwC Bermuda, a contributor to the report, said: “The next decade will redefine how we fund and insure the world's most critical industries. The future of re/insurance lies in its ability to orchestrate, not just underwrite, resilience—empowering businesses to thrive amid complexity, as megatrends like climate change and technological disruption reshape the scale and nature of industry reconfiguration.”

To remain relevant, reinsurers must address not only who they protect, but how they build resilience, deploy capital and build expertise.

Matt Britten, Partner, PwC Bermuda, also an author of the report, added: “Our report identifies four urgent structural gaps that threaten re/insurers ability to serve increasingly complex and interconnected risks: the protection gap, the resilience gap in infrastructure and systems, the talent gap in emerging capabilities, and the funding gap for climate and transition-linked risks. Addressing these four gaps is as – if not more -- critical as managing today’s underwriting and pricing challenges.”