Sedgwick Warns of Complex 2026 Catastrophe Season Amid Rising Non-Hurricane Risks
Event summary
- Sedgwick released its 2026 Catastrophe Season Playbook on June 11, 2026, highlighting emerging trends and strategies for insurance carriers.
- 2025 saw 23 billion-dollar U.S. weather events, with the most expensive driven by non-hurricane perils outside traditional peak seasons.
- Total modeled risk from non-hurricane perils increased by 12% in 2025 compared to 2024.
- Nearly 25% of claim adjusters are expected to retire by the end of 2027, increasing operational costs by 12% for carriers with high turnover.
The big picture
Sedgwick's playbook underscores a broader industry shift towards more frequent and geographically dispersed weather-related disasters, complicating claims management. The combination of rising non-hurricane perils and a shrinking talent pool threatens to increase claim costs and operational inefficiencies, forcing carriers to rethink their preparedness strategies. The playbook serves as a call to action for proactive, multi-layered approaches to catastrophe preparedness.
What we're watching
- Risk Distribution
- How the shift to more distributed and harder-to-predict risks will challenge traditional catastrophe response models.
- Talent Shortage
- Whether the insurance industry can mitigate the impact of retiring claim adjusters and the loss of institutional knowledge.
- Operational Costs
- The pace at which operational costs will rise for carriers struggling with high turnover among experienced adjusters.
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