The International Underwriting Association (IUA) is setting up a new committee for cyber claims professionals in the London Market, widening its network of cyber-focused groups to bring claims handlers together with underwriters and reinsurers.
The Cyber Claims Committee will hold its first meeting on October 15 and is open to senior leaders from cyber claims teams at London insurers and reinsurers. It will give members a forum to discuss market issues and emerging trends in cyber claims handling.
The IUA already runs committees covering cyber underwriting and cyber reinsurance. Its Cyber Underwriting Group was established in 2014 to provide a forum for underwriters offering specialist cyber cover in the London company market, alongside a Cyber Reinsurance Committee and a Non-affirmative and Newly-affirmative Cyber Committee. The association has also published research on cyber business interruption claims, produced with Baker Tilly, and separate analysis of cyber cover for warranty and indemnity risks.
The new committee aims to strengthen collaboration between claims and underwriting functions and promote best practice in the London company market. It will share insights to support underwriting strategy, product development and risk management, and address operational, regulatory and legal developments affecting cyber claims handling.
"Cyber risks are changing rapidly and claims activity is influential in shaping the London Market's response to risk management demands," said Joe Shaw, director of claims at the IUA. "Our new committee will help facilitate an effective feedback loop between claims and underwriting, ensuring IUA members are well-placed to respond effectively to emerging cyber threats."
The launch follows a marked deterioration in the UK's own threat data. The National Cyber Security Centre's 2025 Annual Review found that 204 of the 429 incidents its incident management team handled between September 2024 and August 2025 were nationally significant, up from 89 the previous year, with 18 incidents, or 4%, reaching the "highly significant" category, a 50% year-on-year rise.
The review also pointed to a run of high-profile UK retail attacks, naming the ransomware incidents at Marks & Spencer and Co-op as leading examples of the threat facing UK organisations. Both generated significant business interruption and reputational losses and tested cyber wordings written for the London Market. The NCSC has also been consulting on a ban on ransomware payments by public bodies, part of a wider effort to reshape how UK organisations respond to extortion demands, with direct implications for how claims teams handle ransom negotiation and payment cover.
London Market commentators have flagged pricing pressure building for 2026. Cyber-focused underwriter DUAL has warned the market is approaching a critical turning point, with S&P Global Ratings forecasting a 15% to 20% premium increase in 2026 as claims severity catches up with recent years of rate softening. A dedicated claims forum gives London Market practitioners a more direct route to feed loss experience from incidents such as the M&S and Co-op attacks back into pricing and wording decisions at a time when that feedback matters more than usual.
The launch continues a pattern of the IUA building dedicated cyber infrastructure as the class of business matures. Its cyber reinsurance committee was set up to focus on the concerns of reinsurers, building on the work of the underwriting group, while its research has pushed the market to treat cyber business interruption with the same rigour applied to IT security controls and ransomware exposure.
Cyber claims handling has become a more prominent focus across the London Market more broadly. The Lloyd's Market Association's Cyber Business Panel has identified ransomware and extortion as leading drivers of cyber claims, noting that the disruptive nature and financial impact of these attacks are reshaping how insurers assess, price and manage cyber risk, and that the rising scale of extortion demands is prompting a rethink of how such payments should be insured.
A claims-specific forum gives the IUA a more direct channel for feeding real-world loss experience back into underwriting and product design, at a time when both the frequency and complexity of cyber claims continue to test how the market prices and structures cover.
