Demand for political risk insurance up by 33%
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jul 2025
Intensifying geopolitical rivalries, policy uncertainty and competition for critical minerals are reshaping the risk landscape as well as driving demand for protection and these in turn are giving a boost to credit and political risk insurance according to a new report.
Global insurance broking firm Howden Group recently released its 43-page ‘2025 Credit and Political Risk Insurance’ report, titled ‘Opportunity in flux’, which reveals that new demand for political risk insurance is up by a third due to considerable uncertainty around the geopolitical and macroeconomic environment.
Amid the softening of the broader insurance cycle, the report argues that now is the time to draw in additional new entrants and for existing credit and political risk insurance (CPRI) insurers to accelerate ventures into new asset classes and territories.
With an aggregated premium base of $50bn, the CPRI and surety market surpasses the size of many other specialty insurance markets, including marine and energy.
Given the series of economic and geopolitical shocks in recent years, the CPRI market consistently delivers healthy net combined ratios, with trade credit in the range of 70-80%, which sits at the top end of the broader CPRI market.
While the market has performed strongly, premium growth has not developed at the pace of other business lines, including property and cyber. There is room for a greater growth rate in today’s world; CPRI presents a compelling case from both a buyer and capacity provider perspective in supporting businesses to invest and trade through heightened volatility whilst delivering market-leading underwriting results. M