The industry must find ways to cover emerging risks, Aon Australia CEO Lambros Lambrou says.

Many of the threats “keeping chief executives awake at night” are not covered by insurance, he told 300 delegates at the Aon Advanced Risk Finance Conference last week.

Mr Lambrou says the industry need to address these concerns to remain relevant and offer value.

Looking to the past can lead to failure to innovate or address new and emerging risks, he warns.

Many leading risks were barely known 10 years ago, with cyber breaches an example of a threat that is widely underestimated, “particularly here in Australia”.

“Changes such as the increased connectivity between individuals, accelerating accumulation of data and the speed at which information is sent digitally around the globe mean all companies are now borderless and all risks are global,” Mr Lambrou said.

The conference also heard how Big Data can be harnessed to better understand risk and about opportunities from the inflow of capital to reinsurance.

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