The legacy technology systems that many insurers rely on are holding them back. Still, it’s unsustainable for insurers to keep kicking the can down the road long-term, according to a new study published by Baringa.

“There’s a massive constraint in terms of their ability to get their current legacy environment to respond in terms of pace, in terms of value for money, but also in terms of how they think about being able to capitalize on a more modern architecture stack and what does that look like,” Roy Jubraj, partner of financial services, Baringa said.

Outdated legacy tech is one of the main barriers preventing insurers from capitalizing on AI and other technology advancements and from being able to deliver the level of service customers increasingly demand.

With the March 16 sign-up deadline approaching for 2026 spring-seeded crops, National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS) has reported record participation in US crop and livestock insurance for the 2025 crop year.

According to the NCIS, farmers purchased 2.54 million crop insurance policies in 2025, an all-time high, covering a record 561 million acres of farmland nationwide. Nearly 117 million acres have been added to crop insurance since 2021, meaning the program now reached the vast majority of eligible US cropland.

Investors who shrugged off last month’s artificial intelligence (AI) scare in the insurance sector might want to brace themselves for a reality check. A new report from BofA Global Research estimates more than $15 billion in insurance industry commissions are considered “low complexity” and face a not immaterial risk of AI disintermediation. In other words: a real possibility.

Receivership activity in the US insurance industry surged in 2025, with 10 companies placed into liquidation or rehabilitation — double the number in 2024.

Specifically, regulators placed eight insurers into liquidation and two into rehabilitation during the year. By comparison, only one company entered liquidation and four underwent rehabilitation in 2024.

Despite the increase in receivership cases, the net total assets of companies placed into receivership in 2025 were significantly lower at $275.4 million, compared with $5.61 billion in 2024.

The role of the claims professional is changing, and we’re embracing it.

In his article "Next Gen Claims: What is a Claims Adjuster in 2026?", Awais Farooq, CPCU, AIC, AIC-M, LPCS, explores how AI is reshaping claims work while human judgment, empathy, and creativity remain central. His upcoming book, The Future Isn’t Fully Automated, dives even deeper into why humans still matter in a high-tech world.

Technology should elevate our people, not replace them. Human judgment, creativity, and thoughtful negotiation remain at the heart of every file at Venbrook Claims.

The future of claims isn’t fully automated; it’s human-led, tech-enabled, and purpose-driven.

The insurance industry has shed more than 54,000 jobs since the end of 2024, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Three notes: Insurance carriers and related activities lost 11,300 positions in January 2026 alone. Total employment in the sector stands at about 2.98 million, down from about 3.02 million a year earlier. The insurance employment category covers life, health and property insurers. The 2025 decline was the first annual drop since 2020, when insurers cut about 21,000 jobs and the sector’s unemployment rate peaked at 4.8%. Several major insurers have announced workforce reductions in recent months. The industry’s unemployment rate fell to 1.9% in January, down from 3% in December and 2.5% in November.

What happens to your insurance strategy when the economy tightens? For supply chain providers, inflation, interest rates, and rising asset values are reshaping how insurers assess risk, from underwriting scrutiny to coverage availability. In a recent  SupplyChainBrain article, Venbrook shares how economic conditions are roiling the insurance market in 2026 and why resilience, continuity planning, and smarter risk strategies are becoming essential.

The insurance industry represents a significant opportunity for AI to drive value creation, and the technology will continue making inroads across the industry in the months and years ahead. The opportunity for advancement in the sector is significant, with workflow inefficiencies and extensive use and ownership of data creating a meaningful entry point for the latest technologies.

In December 2025, the Trump administration accelerated the process of reclassifying marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act – a shift that would reduce restrictions and penalties associated with the drug.

Under the move, medical and recreational marijuana would still remain illegal at the federal level. At the state level, medical use is currently legal in 40 states and the District of Columbia, and recreational use is permitted in 24 states and Washington, D.C. While the administration touted the medical research benefits of rescheduling, the medical and recreational marijuana industry lauded it for an entirely different reason: income tax savings.