As fine-art collecting rises among high-net-worth individuals, insurers and collectors are placing new emphasis on risk-management frameworks that go beyond traditional coverage. In 2025, the share of wealth tied to art collections increased to an average of 20 %—up from 15 % in 2024—according to UBS and Art Basel figures.
“Collectors are more active than ever, but the landscape has changed,” said Blythe Hogan, Vice President of Arts & Collections at Aon Private Risk Management. “Insurers are looking beyond the basics now, beyond just alarms and security systems. They want to know that collectors have actionable, written emergency plans that can be implemented immediately in a crisis.”
Insurers are demanding detailed contingency plans, especially in catastrophe-prone regions such as Florida, California and Colorado. These include protocols for relocation, damage documentation and environmental stabilisation after events—fire, smoke or hurricane. Collectors are increasingly using seasonal or alternate storage solutions to mitigate location concentration risk.
Climate risk is becoming central to underwriting. Smoke damage alone, even when a property remains structurally unharmed, is now recognised as a valid trigger for claim exposure. Insurers are also scrutinising aggregations—how much value is concentrated in one location or storage site—for systemic exposure.
For art brokers, insurers and high-value asset managers, the take-away is clear: robust emergency-response planning, regular valuations, precise documentation and environmental mitigation aid underwriting confidence and premium optimisation. In an era where art collections rival other asset classes in value and risk, the rules of risk management are evolving accordingly.
