Reconfiguring for resilience
Across sectors, a decisive pivot toward risk-smart restructuring has emerged:
- Location strategies: nearshoring and friendshoring is gaining traction, with supply chains shifting closer to politically aligned or logistically stable regions (e.g. US–Mexico, EU–North Africa1) to reduce risk and improve agility.
- Risk mitigation: creating regional hubs decentralises operations to avoid bottlenecks when a single site or route is compromised.
- Visibility and vulnerability: companies are investing in more detailed supply chain risk management and mapping to uncover vulnerabilities in critical inputs like semiconductors, rare earths, and energy components.
- Mapping dependencies: attention is expanding to sub-tier suppliers, especially in strategic areas such as semiconductors, rare earths, and other key manufacturing inputs.
Insurance investment is rising
Recalibrating for growth
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As global trade fractures, companies have stopped waiting for stability:
- Emerging market expansion: they have moved into underserved markets – ASEAN2, Africa3, Latin America4– not out of idealism, but necessity. Minerals, energy, infrastructure: the basics are all there.
- Resilience-aligned sustainability: rethinking supply proximity is aligning resilience with sustainability – reducing transport emissions while increasing control. Supply chains shortened. Not for show, but for control. Less distance means fewer emissions, fewer surprises.
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Insurance as enabler: new insurance models – from parametric supply chain covers, embedded credit risk management and political risk solutions, to developing products for new innovations – are helping businesses invest with greater ease by helping to keep financial risks in check and balance sheets secure, upping financial resilience.
Commercial hope can prevail even when the global economy splinters. Businesses are branching out from simply insulating themselves, they’re seizing new opportunity.
Political risk on the agenda
By protecting infrastructure, enabling investment, and building resilience, coverage such as political risk and trade credit insurance can help businesses scale confidently, and political violence cover can provide protection in volatile conditions.
“We’re seeing increased demand for political risk and trade credit cover from US and European companies with legacy investments in China. Many are looking to relocate to markets like Vietnam or Cambodia but shifting tariff structures and political risk continue to complicate the picture. The good news is, there’s still ample capacity available to support clients as they shift operations to new markets.”
Roddy Barnett
Head of Political Risks & Trade Credit
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Governance in the age of AI and unrest
At the boardroom table and across leadership teams, the ground is shifting. They’re exposed – strategically and personally.
Today, boards need to get their house in order to ensure they can demonstrate preparedness so if choppy waters emerge, resilience comes into play, or if claims hit, they have evidence of their foresight and vigilance.
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“When the water gets choppy, it’s the strength of a firm’s governance infrastructure and board muscle memory that determines resilience. Having the right experience, committees, processes, and decision-making frameworks in place isn’t just operational hygiene – it's strategic armour against whatever crisis comes next.”
Bethany Greenwood
Chief Executive Officer of Beazley Furlonge Limited and Group Head of Specialty Risks
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Resilience and insurance are the steel in the spine of strategy
Strategic resilience, supported by insurance includes:
- Protecting assets and operations during supply chain shifts or manufacturing pivots to help keep transformation on track.
- Shielding investments in volatile jurisdictions, enabling expansion despite shifting policy landscapes and political risks.
- Supporting innovation and bold ideas to enable bankable growth.
- Strengthening strategic moves with financial protection, reducing exposure and unlocking capital confidence.
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Insurance is evolving to support firms in these times of change and uncertainty, offering protection and risk transfer across relocation, business interruption, asset transition, political and trade credit risk management, political violence, war & terrorism, cyber threats and executive risk insurance to cover exposures.
“We are experiencing a rise in enquiries for broader political violence coverage that goes all the way up to war, not just sabotage and terrorism. There are clients who have never bought this cover before, and they are now desperately wanting to as they are concerned about current levels of geopolitical and economic uncertainty.”
Chris Parker
Head of Political Violence & Deadly Weapons Protection