Morning Briefing: Cybersecurity insurance accelerating

Cybersecurity insurance accelerating… Airbnb extends insurance to Canada… Lloyds to work more closely with Chinese insurer… Ageas signs up for software innovation…

Risk Management News

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Cybersecurity insurance accelerating
The trend of businesses purchasing insurance coverage against cyber risks has been accelerating in 2015 according to new figures from Zurich Insurance. The Advisen Cyber Survey polled more than 400 US risk managers and found that there has been a 9 per cent rise in cyber insurance purchase this year compared to 2014.

“This year’s cyber survey shows that demand for coverage and higher limits has increased tremendously and we at Zurich have seen double digit growth year over year,” said Bryan Salvatore, president of Specialty Products for Zurich North America.

Among the survey’s findings; the vast majority purchase cyber cover as a standalone product with two thirds having increased, or considering increasing, the coverage limits; board/executive level continue to view cyber risk more seriously than those further down the business although many respondents said that their ‘superiors’ do not see the need in purchasing cyber coverage; organizations are increasingly seeing cyber risk as not just an IT issue.

Social media, cloud services, mobile devices and the Internet of Things are all seen as emerging risks.
 
Airbnb extends insurance to Canada
Home-sharing service Airbnb is expanding its insurance offering to 15 more countries including Canada, having launched in the US earlier this year. The Host Protection Program is designed to cover claims made against home owners if guests are injured while staying at their property and can also cover certain damages to the host’s property. Times Colonist reports that the policy, which will be offered through a Lloyds of London insurer, has taken four years to arrange. Airbnb’s Jonathan Golden says the level of claims has been low with 8 million guests using the service in the US and just 50 claims since January.
 
Lloyds to work more closely with Chinese insurer
Lloyds of London has signed a memorandum of understanding with the China Taiping Insurance Group which will lead to greater cooperation between the two organizations. The memorandum signifies a commitment from both sides to establish a broader and closer relationship, including deepening mutual collaboration and support for Chinese enterprises internationally and comes at a time of increasing bilateral trade relations between Britain and China. It was signed Wednesday, coinciding with the Chinese president’s state visit to the UK.
 
Ageas signs up for software innovation
Global insurance firm Ageas has purchased an end-to-end insurance software program, said to be an industry first. The suite of programs from German firm SAP is believed to be the first designed for insurers to enable them to run their entire process in the cloud using just one software provider. SAP says that the product will allow Ageas to streamline its IT management as the solution is a hosted product. 
 

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