A new survey from Dun & Bradstreet shows a sharp increase in third-party risk hitting the insurance market.
85% of UK insurers and brokers say they’ve already felt negative fallout, ranging from financial losses to security breaches and supply chain problems.
The 2025 Financial Services & Insurance Pulse Survey pulled in responses from over 2,000 senior professionals. It paints a picture of a sector spending heavily but still struggling to manage exposure.
Budgets are up across ESG (71%), cybersecurity (74%), legal and compliance (73%), and fraud prevention (64%). Yet the same executives admit they’re not ready.
Confidence levels remain low – 34% feel underprepared on ESG, 28% on cybersecurity, 25% on compliance, and 22% on fraud. Money is moving, but readiness isn’t.
The issue ties back to data. Nearly 70% of respondents said they can’t forecast future trends. Over 80% lack tools to assess non-financial risks.
Only 29% feel they can actually make strong business decisions from the data in front of them. That’s not just inconvenient – it’s dangerous when risk profiles change daily.
Data problems run deep: 71% report duplicate records, 63% distrust their datasets, and 57% admit their data sits in silos.
According to our analysts, those flaws don’t just block insight, they actively undermine investments in cybersecurity and fraud prevention.
Zulf Raja, Head of Insurance at Dun & Bradstreet, put it bluntly. Many insurers are trying to fight tomorrow’s threats with yesterday’s tools.
He argues that reliance on poor data and manual processes keeps firms exposed, even as they pour money into defenses. Stronger data foundations, alongside real-time monitoring and smarter fraud detection, could change the game – if insurers commit.
Insurers are rightly increasing their investment in risk management; many are still trying to tackle tomorrow’s threats with yesterday’s tools.
Zulf Raja, Head of Insurance at Dun & Bradstreet
“Reliance on poor-quality data and manual processes not only leaves firms exposed but actively undermines the value of their investments. Prioritising strong data foundations and processes is essential to support smarter decision-making and help insurers keep pace with the complexity of risk landscape,” Zulf Raja noted.
The survey also shows a cultural gap. 32% of respondents said the hardest part of managing risk isn’t the spending itself but measuring and quantifying risk in the first place.
Without sharper frameworks and external data to map partner vulnerabilities, companies may keep spending while blind spots grow.
Insurers know they need to fix this. They’re ramping up investments, but weak internal confidence suggests that dollars alone won’t close the gap.
Maybe the bigger question is whether firms will shift their approach fast enough to keep up with how risk now operates – messy, fast, and often coming from directions they don’t expect.
