Aon Benfield has identified seven key opportunities for insurers over the next five to 10 years, and says the industry must create more relevant products as demand for current ones wanes.

Analytics CEO Stephen Mildenhall will tell the group’s biennial Hazards Conference on the Gold Coast tomorrow that successful risk management has reduced demand for existing products, while developments in the global economy have spawned new risks.

The seven emerging areas identified in Aon Benfield’s Global Insurance Market Report are US mortgage credit, the sharing economy, reputation and brand, microinsurance, corporate liability, terrorism and cyber.

“Risk owners are demanding new solutions for these emerging risks as they work to grow their businesses,” Mr Mildenhall says.

The reinsurance broker’s report says personal and commercial coverage gaps in the shared economy offer an immediate opportunity for (re)insurers.

Microinsurance offers access to 4 billion potential new customers and opportunities for long-term growth as developing countries become richer.

As data and analytics improve, Aon Benfield forecasts cyber risk will move from complex and undermanaged to the insurance mainstream, where markets can adequately price and transfer risk.

Reputation and brand was named the No.1 area of concern in Aon Benfield’s recent Global Risk Management Survey.

Mr Mildenhall says insurers must invest in data and analytics to grasp the potential around growth, geographic expansion and market feasibility.