The full survey report, Executive Perspectives on Top Risks for 2020, may be accessed at erm.ncsu.edu or protiviti.com/toprisks. It includes detailed breakdowns of the results by respondent role, organization size, industry, geography and other categories.

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Executive Perspectiveson Top Risks for 2020 inthe Insurance Industry

* Scores are based on a 10-point scale, with “10” representing that the risk issue will have an extensive impact on the organization.

Board members and C-suite executives worldwide perceive aslightly less-risky business environment in 2020 compared to 2019,

according to an annual survey from NC State University’s ERMInitiative and Protiviti. But significant concerns still abound.

Two overarching themes surround most of the top 10 risks: talentand culture, and technology and innovation. These themes areespecially relevant as organizations strive to advance their digitalmaturity and embrace the transformative potential of technology.

The top risk issue for insurance organizations is the ability tocompete against “born digital” organizations, which reflects ongoing digital transformation and innovation in the industry.

Operational concerns with strategic underpinnings dominate the top 10 global risk issues, including ensuring privacy and information security (which also involves regulatory oversight of these areas), inability to utilize analytics and big data, and resistance to change operations.

R I S K I S S U E 2020* 2019

1. Ability to compete with “born digital” and other competitors 6.88 6.77

2. Impact of regulatory change and scrutiny on operational 6.81 6.83 resilience, products and services

3. Privacy/identity management and information security 6.71 6.44

4. Adoption of digital technologies may require new skills or 6.40 N/A significant efforts to upskill/reskill existing employees (new in 2020)

5. Inability to utilize analytics and big data 6.39 6.74

6. Resistance to change operations 6.34 5.72

7. Change in current interest rate environment 6.33 5.60

8. Cyber threats 6.29 6.23

9. Succession challenges and ability to attract and retain top talent 6.20 6.18

10. Organization’s culture may not sufficiently encourage timely 6.15 5.74 identification and escalation of risk issues

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