INTRODUCTION Contributed by: Emma Ager, Clyde & Co LLP
This 2026 edition of the Chambers Insurance and Reinsurance Practice Guide covers changes to law and legislation which impact insurers handling claims in several jurisdictions in various continents. As with the edition last year, it also analyses both current and potential future trends. Many of those trends are rep- licated across multiple jurisdictions and can be sum- marised below. Technology, Cyber and AI-Related Disputes The most consistent global trend is the rapid emer- gence of cyber, technology and AI-related risks as a major source of insurance disputes. Jurisdictions including the UK, France, the UAE, Denmark, China and Canada all identify cyber losses, technology fail- ures, ransomware incidents and data breaches as increasingly important sources of litigation. There is also growing concern regarding cloud outages, software failures and failures of critical digital infrastruc- ture, which can generate widespread business inter- ruption losses without any traditional physical damage. These developments have intensified debates regard- ing so-called silent cyber exposure. Whilst attempts have been made to clarify whether cyber-related losses are intended to be covered under traditional property, liability and financial lines policies, disputes continue to arise where losses fall between dedicated cyber policies and more traditional insurance prod- ucts. Issues also arise as to whether state-sponsored cyber-attacks might be treated as an act of war and so fall within the scope of a war exclusion in a policy. Artificial intelligence represents the next phase of this evolution. For example, France, Denmark, Canada and China all identify AI-related liability as a signifi- cant emerging exposure. Judicial consideration of AI- generated evidence has been reported and several jurisdictions have highlighted professional responsi- bility concerns arising from lawyers’ over-reliance on AI-generated material. The consistent line adopted by judiciary around the world is that professionals remain responsible for work produced with the assistance of AI tools. As a result, a potential increase in AI-related professional negligence claims might be anticipated. Separately, legal practitioners have highlighted that AI could help generate an increased number of claims
generally (against both insureds and insurers) and insurers are already reporting an increase in notifica- tions that appear to be the result of AI use. One aspect of this is that the use of AI tools has enabled third-party claimants more easily to generate claims than previ- ously, which has increased the exposure of insureds, who in turn have sought to pass this on to their insurers. Several jurisdictions also anticipate future disputes concerning automated decision-making, algorithmic bias and AI-generated professional advice, which raises issues concerning the allocation of responsi- bility between developers, deployers and users of AI systems. The UAE and the USA additionally report growing concerns regarding AI-generated claims, complaints and supporting evidence, raising practi- cal questions regarding authentication, reliability and evidential standards. Canada has reported that D&O insurers face “AI washing” claims which allege that companies or directors have overstated or misrepre- sented AI capabilities. The rapid growth of data centres and digital infrastruc- ture also appears throughout the guide. Denmark, France, Japan, Mexico, Oman, the UAE and the UK in particular all identify data centres as a developing area of insurance exposure. Power failures, cooling-sys- tem breakdowns, energy supply resilience/depend- ence and cyber incidents are becoming increasingly important underwriting and claims considerations. Contributors also note growing concerns regarding accumulation risk, as multiple policyholders become dependent upon a relatively small number of digital infrastructure providers. Furthermore, traditional busi- ness interruption policies do not necessarily cater for interconnected data centre operations. Climate Change and Environmental Liability Climate-related risks continue to influence virtually every area of the insurance industry. Across multiple jurisdictions, contributors report increasing losses arising from severe weather events, flooding, envi- ronmental contamination and business interruption. The impact has been noted by legal practitioners in multiple jurisdictions. In the UAE, severe rainfall and flooding events continue to generate significant claims activity and complex disputes concerning causation,
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I NSURANCE L I T IGATI O N 2026
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