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Singapore reinsurers publish AI risk handbook covering underwriting and claims
By Felipe Bernal, . Insurance Wire.
A new handbook designed to help reinsurers manage the risks of artificial intelligence in their own operations was released this week at the 22nd Singapore International Reinsurance Conference, according to Reinsurance News.
The Singapore Reinsurers' Association (SRA) developed the guide, called the Reinsurers' Artificial Intelligence Handbook, through a working group drawn from its Technical and Legal & Compliance Subcommittees. The document is aimed at underwriting, claims and risk professionals.
What the handbook covers
The handbook establishes a five-stage assessment cycle for evaluating AI risks. The areas it covers include data, model and decision reliability; reliance on outside technology vendors; underwriting; claims; and the concentration of risk across a portfolio.
The SRA positioned the handbook as a complement to existing AI governance tools, including the MindForge AI Risk Management Toolkit, rather than a replacement. The distinction matters: the handbook is intended to address considerations specific to reinsurance, which sits one step removed from the policyholders that primary insurers cover directly.
Glen Riddell, Chair of the SRA, explained the core concern. "Reinsurers need to understand how AI use may affect risk selection, claims outcomes and portfolio performance, and what that means for the risks they reinsure," he said. "This Handbook provides practical, principles-based guidance to help reinsurers assess these considerations and incorporate them into reinsurance decision-making."
Why it matters now
The timing reflects a genuine tension in the market. As primary insurers adopt AI for underwriting and claims decisions, reinsurers inherit the downstream effects of those choices without always having visibility into how they were made. A model that systematically misprices a class of risk, or that introduces new correlations across a portfolio, can create exposures that only become visible at renewal or after a large loss event.
The handbook's focus on third-party dependencies is particularly relevant here. Reinsurers often have no direct relationship with the AI vendors their cedants use, yet the outputs of those systems shape the risks being transferred.
The launch took place at SIRC 2026, which drew more than 4,300 delegates from 85 countries and territories, the largest international turnout in the conference's history.
What to watch next
The handbook is principles-based, meaning it sets out a framework for thinking rather than prescribing specific technical standards. Whether the SRA's member firms adopt it consistently, and how regulators in Singapore and elsewhere respond to it, will determine how much practical weight it carries. Underwriters and risk managers reviewing their own AI governance programs should consider whether the five assessment areas the handbook identifies map onto the AI tools their cedants are already deploying.
Source: https://www.reinsurancene.ws/sra-launches-ai-handbook-to-guide-reinsurance-sector/
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