While middle market companies share many common challenges, the risks they face—and how prepared they are to manage them—can vary meaningfully by industry. Understanding these differences is key to building resilience and tailoring risk management strategies.

Chubb undertook a sector-by-sector examination of executive’s responses to the Year-End 2025 Middle Market Indicator (MMI), a semi-annual research survey we support with the National Center for the Middle Market (NCMM). Following is a snapshot of what we heard from executives about their most pressing risks across 12 key industries – and universal takeaways that emerged.  

Key Findings by Industry

  • Manufacturing - Supply chain risk remains the sector’s top concern, with more than half of manufacturers considering contingent business interruption insurance to help mitigate this exposure. At the same time, as manufacturers explore the potential advantages of AI, they are also expressing concerns—particularly regarding data security and privacy.
  • Food - Highly regulated and reputation-sensitive, food companies are more likely than the overall middle market to have experienced litigation. Executives pointed to supply chain disruptions as their top risk, and 55% are considering insurance to mitigate this risk.
  • Wholesale & Distribution - Supply chain disruption, cybersecurity, and credit risk dominate concerns in this sector. Leaders view AI as a net positive—particularly for efficiency and revenue growth—while remaining cautious about cyber risk and employee resistance.
  • Business Services - Cybersecurity and digitization top this sector’s risk list. Looking ahead, business services firms are significantly more likely than the overall middle market to anticipate domestic expansion in the year ahead.
  • Retail & Consumer Services - Supply chain disruption and cybersecurity are this sector’s top risks. Forty-four percent are considering insurance for supply chain disruptions, and just 40% carry cyber insurance.
  • Educational Institutions - Cyber threats and reputational risk dominate concerns. While preparedness for regulatory issues, natural catastrophes, environmental incidents, and civil unrest trails the broader middle market, the sector outpaces these same peers in adopting AI for automation and deep learning.
  • Financial Institutions - Regulatory compliance ranks as this sector’s top risk, followed by cybersecurity. When it comes to embracing AI, cybersecurity risks are again a major concern. Only 39% carry cyber insurance.
  • Life Sciences - Top risks in this sector stem from digital transformation, global interdependencies and evolving regulations. Executives have more to do to mitigate what they view as their most significant risks.
  • Technology - Firms are adopting AI faster than the broader middle market. At the same time, gaps in resilience planning and cyber preparedness leave many firms vulnerable as they embrace innovation.   
  • Real Estate - Along with cybersecurity, natural catastrophe/extreme weather risks loom large for real estate firms. Increased focus on fundamentals like building valuations, business continuity planning, and sustainability-related coverage will help move the needle in preparedness.
  • Healthcare - Regulatory compliance ranks as the top risk of this sector, followed by cybersecurity and liability claims. As organizations get onboard with AI, they have significant concerns around data security and privacy as well as implementation costs.
  • Construction - Supply chain disruption, regulatory issues and cybersecurity are top risks. Increased adoption of insurance for cyber and supply chain risks and engagement in business continuity planning can meaningfully improve readiness for these risks.

Moving Forward: Four Takeaways

While risk priorities and preparedness levels vary by industry, several common paths to mitigate risks emerged. These include:

  • Strengthening cyber risk management. Working with brokers, companies can reassess their cyber posture in light of growing digital threats. This includes evaluating how existing insurance programs address data breach, cyberattack and privacy concerns, and assessing a company’s ability to identify vulnerabilities, harden defenses, and respond to incidents.

  • Integrating business continuity planning. Clear, well-documented business continuity plans help organizations prepare for a wide range of disruptions, from cyberattacks and supply chain failures to extreme weather events. Regular review and testing of these plans can improve readiness across scenarios.

  • Evaluating Contingent Business Interruption (CBI) insurance. Given the widespread concerns about supply chain disruptions, companies are wise to assess their current property insurance. Standard business insurance, which protects against losses arising from physical damage-related disruptions, is typically included on a commercial property policy. However, companies may need to adjust limits or purchase additional coverage options, such as contingent business interruption (CBI) insurance, for more complex risks, such as supply chain-related losses.

  • Aligning insurance with evolving regulations. Regulatory developments can materially affect a company’s exposure, notably directors and officers liability. Periodic reviews of insurance programs, informed by regulatory changes, can help organizations understand how – and if – their programs are keeping with the current environment.   

Viewing risk through an industry lens brings individual differences and perspectives into sharper focus. It also enables executives across all sectors to better understand potential vulnerabilities and can inform common strategies to strengthen resilience.

Notably, MMI results also revealed unique risk concerns among lower middle market companies – defined in the survey as those with $10 million to $50 million in revenue. These findings, and a roadmap to help these companies improve risk readiness, are featured in this companion piece on risk in the lower middle market, written by my colleague, Rob Poliseno.

How does your organization stack up? Dive into the detailed findings in Chubb’s full report.

The MMI polls 1000 executives (CEOs, CFOs and other financial decision makers) from middle market companies with $10 million to $1 billion in annual revenue. The data presented here is from the center's mid-year update, fielded in July 2025.


 

Justin Boardman  

EVP, Commercial Insurance Specialty Manager        

 

 

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