Mapping systemic risk in the insurance sector: A bibliometric review (2000–2024)

Over the past decade, the topic of systemic risk has attracted a great deal of interest, particularly due to the financial crises and the growing interconnection of global financial institutions. At one time, the insurance industry was somewhat isolated from systemic events. However, it is increasingly becoming acknowledged as an important part of discussions regarding financial stability. Therefore, this article provides a PRISMA-based bibliometric analysis of the literature on systemic risk in the insurance sector between 2000 and 2024, using a defined keywords and a systematic approach to searching and identifying documents from Scopus and Web of Science. In accordance with a clear set of inclusion and exclusion criteria, the final corpus used for this study comprised 217 articles published in 107 different journals and originating from 37 countries. Using the R package bibliometrix and VOSviewer, this paper examines co-occurrence analysis, clusters, and temporal variations of author-defined keywords, which allowed us to identify major themes and intellectual structures emerging in this field of research. The results reveal a trend toward increasing engagement by researchers in various aspects of systemic importance to insurers, including their systemic importance, their role in financial contagion, and their interactions with the banking sector and financial markets. Furthermore, the findings of this study indicate similarities between academic and regulatory perspectives on the subject addressed by these results. There is a growing consensus among academics and regulators regarding the areas of macroprudential supervision, resolution frameworks, and the treatment of non-traditional and non-insurance-related activities. Furthermore, this article will provide examples of systemic vulnerabilities that exist in the insurance sector, as well as ideas for regulators on how to address these vulnerabilities in various regulatory systems.