Emergence Insurance has launched a United States operation, taking an Australian-built cyber underwriting model into the world's largest insurance market and handing local leadership to one of the most recognisable names in the American independent agency channel.
The Sydney-headquartered agency announced the move today through its website and LinkedIn. Emergence U.S. will target small and mid-sized organisations, the segment where cyber insurance take-up remains thinnest.
"Cyber risk is now part of everyday operating risk, yet many organisations still do not have dedicated cyber insurance because it is often viewed as complex, specialist or difficult to access," said Troy Filipcevic (pictured), CEO and founder of Emergence Insurance in Sydney. "Our focus is to help change that perception by making cyber insurance simpler, more practical and more clearly connected to the way organisations manage risk every day."
Emergence has been building toward this since at least earlier in 2026, when a US-facing page appeared on its site. Filipcevic founded the agency in 2015 after executive roles at Suncorp and consulting work at Deloitte and has grown it into a specialist that combines underwriting, embedded risk services and in-house incident response - an integrated structure that is more common among Australian cyber agencies than American ones.
Emergence U.S. will be led by Keith Savino, a 37-year industry veteran who has spent recent years as managing partner and national cyber practice leader at Trucordia, one of the largest US brokerages. He is a past president of the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents and has chaired industry standards bodies including AUGIE, NetVU and CPIA.
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That background matters for the distribution strategy. Emergence has described the US build as agent-focused, and Savino's relationships sit squarely in the independent agency channel that writes most American small business.
Speaking to Insurance Business earlier in 2026, Savino argued cyber had already crossed from optional to essential, telling the publication that cyber insurance was moving from a niche add-on to basic protection for businesses reliant on systems they could not easily rebuild.
Filipcevic said the appointment reflected shared thinking rather than a hire of convenience.
"Keith has the market knowledge, relationships and leadership capability we need to build Emergence U.S. the right way. Just as importantly, he shares our view of what brokers, agents and clients require," he said.
"We have known each other for a long time and share a common view that cyber insurance needs to become simpler, more practical and more accessible."
The launch material does not name the carrier or carriers standing behind Emergence U.S. and that is the question Australian brokers watching this should pose.
In Australia, Emergence writes on Lloyd's paper. It renewed binders across its product range with Lloyd's security and has previously said that arrangement let it offer the largest cyber capacity available in the Australian market for corporates above $250 million in revenue. Whether the US entity replicates that structure, uses admitted paper, or operates surplus lines is not disclosed.
Nor is the scale of the initial commitment. Filipcevic said the approach would be measured.
"Our approach to the US is deliberate. We will grow with intention, stay true to our core values and continue to build a reputation for reliability, expertise and genuine support in cyber insurance," he said.
For Australian brokers, there are some practical implications. Filipcevic said the expansion would improve Emergence's ability to support Australian organisations expanding into the US - a recurring placement problem for brokers with clients that trade across both markets and currently need separate towers. Whether that translates into a genuine cross-border solution depends on how the two operations are structured.
The agency, an Insurance Business 5-Star Cyber award recipient for 2026, has previously won Australian Underwriting Agency of the Year and Claims Team of the Year and took a stake in Sydney advisory firm NSB Cyber to extend its pre- and post-incident services.
