Beazley brings cyber insurance policy to Europe
The BBR service will be launched primarily in France and the UK. According to Paul Bantick, Head of TMB UK Speciality Lines at Beazley, there are a number of cyber insurance policies that provide clients with a policy limit but in the event of a breach leave the client to procure the services needed to fix the problem and then subsequently let them know how much of the limit they are willing to grant to the loss.
“But most companies do not have the resources or the expertise to manage that process. That is where our policy differs, by providing an end to end service for managing a breach comprising legal, forensics, notification, PR and credit monitoring,” Mr Bantick told Commercial Risk Europe at this week’s AMRAE Rencontres.
The policy will carry the costs of the services for breaches involving up to five million records with no cap. Beazley will also separately provide up to €15m for any liability claims that subsequently arise from the breach.
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The policy has been two years in development, said Mr Bantick. While some time was spent amending the wording of the policies for the French and UK markets, much of this time was spent establishing the contractual links with the chosen vendors that comprise the services side of the product-something that Mr Beazley believes will be integral to the product’s success. “The services side has driven demand in the US and I expect the same to happen in Europe.”
In the two years it has taken to develop the European BBR service, there has also been a rise in demand from insurance buyers, said Mr Bantick, precipitated to a large degree by changes to EU data protection rules as well as a number of high profile breaches involving multinational corporates.
Brokers have also increased their understanding of cyber insurance and the products available in the meantime, said Alexandra Gavarone, Director of Development for Beazley France. “It is a new risk so there is an opportunity for brokers to be of value to their clients by recognising where there may be gaps in their existing policies.”
Following the launch of the BBR product in France and the UK, Beazley is targeting other European markets such as Spain, Italy and Germany. The insurer is also looking to roll out the cover in Australia and South America.
