2023 Executive Outlook | Saad Mered, Zurich Canada

Saad Mered, CEO, Zurich Canada

As we look to 2023, a few major issues – climate change, cybercrime and inflation – give rise to challenges and opportunities.

Climate change is a business risk and societal risk. All businesses and their assets will be affected, and collective action is needed to mitigate or adapt to the risk. As an insurer, we’re expanding our efforts to help our customers build resilience and support their transition to a net-zero society through our products and services. We have an obligation to lead the charge for achieving a net-zero economy and are committed to achieving net-zero in our operations by 2030.

Looking at cyber risk, the threats continue to intensify. New technologies, rapid digitalization, the move to cloud services and remote working have increased the reliance on technology and created new cyber vulnerabilities. At the same time, cybercriminals employ increasingly sophisticated techniques for data theft and cyber extortion.

As a result of the increased frequency and severity of cyber losses, available insurance capacity in the market has decreased, rates have increased, and demand for cyber protection continues to rise. To ensure cyber remains a sustainable line of business, the insurance industry needs to work with businesses to help them build resilience.

Finally, inflation remains top of mind for Canadians. In the insurance industry, we remain focused on how inflation affects our asset-liability management, customers and broker partners. Rising inflation could mean some of our customers’ values are underinsured. Our role is to help them ensure they have the right amount of coverage and adequate protection for their assets.