Red Alert for Insurers – Cyber Attacks and Regulations Force Urgent Risk Overhaul in Asia-Pacific

Asia-Pacific chief risk officers are staring down a maze of new pressures, and many are quietly rewriting the job description that used to fit on a single page.

In a quick round-up from EY and the Institute of International Finance, it turns out that the risk crew is no longer a back-office function; executives say they are seated at the table, helping sketch the next quarter’s strategy.

The same survey shows that the watchword is operational resilience. Companies now plan, budget, and test their systems around that idea as if it were the only North Star in the room.

Digital projects keep picking up speed, and that means insurers lean harder on third-party partners, cloud vendors, and API builders. Everyone says their real goal is one simple thing: keep the lights on, no matter how many switches get flipped.

Roughly a third of regional CROs list operational resilience in their top three worries. New rules like Australias CPS 230 put teeth behind those fears, and the inner workings of most firms are sprawling enough that even a minor hitch could look like a blackout.

Stacey Hooper, who leads EYs insurance practice for Oceania, puts it plainly: the crosshairs are everywhere. Cyber intruders, shaky supply chains, geopolitical dollar swings, and watchful regulators at ASIC are all swirling in the same frame.