American International Group (AIG) has today announced that as of January 2020, virtually all of its commercial lines policies – both property and casualty - will affirmatively cover or exclude physical and non-physical cyber exposures. This move addresses widespread market concerns that traditional commercial insurance policies are often silent (or non-affirmative) about cyber coverage.

“AIG believes P&C policies globally should be clear about the cyber coverage they provide. For the most part, across the industry, typical P&C policies have not been written to adequately deal with cyber exposure,” commented Tracie Grella, global head of cyber insurance at AIG.

For more than 20 years, AIG has offered standalone cyber insurance products. As the threat has evolved and grown, specifically in the past five years, the global insurer has attempted to incorporate more affirmative cyber coverage across standard commercial P&C insurance lines. The organisation started an official multi-year transition to affirmative cyber coverage in 2014 with its CyberEdge PC policy, designed to fill silent cyber coverage gaps in P&C policies.

Two-years later, AIG launched CyberEdge Plus, a standalone cyber insurance policy designed to provide affirmative primary coverage to clients for a broad range of cyber risks, including physical damage, bodily injury and business interruption. Also in 2016, the insurer began introducing affirmative cyber coverage in existing P&C lines when it enhanced its global Kidnap & Ransom policy to specifically address cyber as a peril.

Grella added: “As we shift to affirmative cyber coverages and exclusions, our clients can more closely consider the cyber peril they face and evaluate how that exposure impacts coverages and policies across their enterprise.”