Risk Managers Shift Focus to Long-Term Resilience

Risk managers are placing greater emphasis on long-term organizational resilience as geopolitical, technological, regulatory, and supply-chain risks become increasingly interconnected, according to the Global Risk Manager Survey 2026 from the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) and PwC.

"The survey highlights a more interconnected and complex risk landscape, with risks increasingly converging across geopolitics, technology, regulation, businesses, and global supply chains," Tadas Cilcius, FERMA board member and chair of the Global Risk Manager Survey, said. "This is driving demand for a more integrated, cross-functional approach to risk management while creating opportunities for risk managers to play a greater role in building organizational resilience and creating value."

Geopolitical uncertainty ranks as the leading short-term risk, followed by cyber attacks and uncertain economic growth. Artificial intelligence (AI) use and regulation also rank among the top five. Over the medium term, AI use becomes the leading concern, while cyberattacks rank third. Geopolitical uncertainty, failure to innovate and regulation round out the top five.

Environmental risks continue to dominate the long-term outlook, but AI use has also entered the top five, indicating that organizations increasingly view the technology as a strategic and structural concern.

The survey found that 92 percent of risk managers are involved in corporate strategy. Strategic risk response is the leading area of focus, cited by 55 percent of respondents, followed by operational resilience.

Corporate strategy for resilience was cited by 58 percent of respondents as a driver of operational resilience, followed by cyber attacks and technological vulnerabilities at 56 percent and reputational risk and brand protection at 52 percent. Other factors included customer expectations at 47 percent, the financial impact of disruptions and regulatory requirements at 46 percent each, and supply-chain and third-party dependencies at 44 percent.

"Resilience is inherently an organization-wide responsibility," Laure Laheurte, risk services partner at PwC France & Maghreb, said. "It requires close collaboration across functions, with risk management playing a key role in connecting resilience to our broader strategy."

Risk managers are also increasing their use of technology. Risk identification and assessment, at 99 percent, and risk reporting, at 96 percent, were the leading technology-enabled risk management activities.

Insurance market conditions remained challenging in 2025. Respondents most frequently cited rising premiums and exclusions of specific risks, while changes in policy wording entered the top three trends compared with 2024.

Among respondents who adjusted their insurance strategies, 43 percent changed their insurance buying patterns, 36 percent sought higher limits, and 34 percent negotiated longer-term agreements or rollovers. Another 31 percent strengthened loss-prevention activities.

Expectations about future insurability improved. Thirty-seven percent of respondents said risks associated with their business activities or locations could become uninsurable in the near future, compared with 53 percent in 2024.

"The Survey findings suggest that resilience is increasingly becoming a differentiator," Philippe Cotelle, president of FERMA, said. "Those organizations able to balance the demands of managing risk today with the strategic foresight to anticipate developments across the longer-term risk horizon will be better equipped to navigate disruption and capture new opportunities in a period of increasing volatility and uncertainty."

Produced with ALARYS, Club FrancoRisk, IFRIMA, IRMSA, PARIMA, RIMS and RMIA, the survey is based on responses from more than 1,300 risk practitioners in 79 countries across the industrial, financial, services, and public sectors.