Principles for Sustainable Insurance: Risk Management and Value

Some of the largest global insurers are actively pursuing the recently enacted Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI). While the concept of sustainability is often associated with a governance design that promotes stakeholder value, the PSI do not appear to be a call for stakeholder‐focused insurers. Rather, the PSI appear to be about internalizing tacit claims in the operations of insurers. Conceptual and empirical literature on shareholder value maximization suggests that when an insurer honors its tacit claims the value to shareholders increases. A key insight from practice is that a sincere pursuit of the PSI will expand the scope of corporate risk management.