Will cyber-related business interruption coverage pave the road to real market growth?

By Chad Hemenway on March 20, 2017

SAN FRANCISCO—One broker sitting on a panel at Advisen’s Cyber Risk Insights Conference here offered advice to his underwriting comrades: Be aggressive because the market is wide open.

“Go after manufacturers, go after industrial companies,” said Bob Parisi, managing director of cyber for Marsh, during the February 15 event. “We all know what happens in healthcare, retail, [financial institutions]—write those all day long and there will be claims. But if you want to diversify your book you’re going to have to learn how to write the property for an industrial control system.”

The discussion focused on cyber-related business interruption coverage and revealed some needs in the marketplace—at least through the eyes of the brokers on the panel.

Parisi said there is a growing awareness among clients in the recognition of their risk, that they have a different risk profile due to technology. This is making traditional P&C insurance less effective in covering these risks.

“What we’re facing now is traditional markets pulling back, not stepping up,” especially when it comes to non-physical perils, Parisi said. “They are pulling back, retracting, or excluding—or waiting for the coverage litigation to come in.”

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Chad Hemenway is Managing Editor of Advisen News. He has more than 15 years of journalist experience at a variety of online, daily, and weekly publications. He has covered P&C insurance news since 2007, and he has experience writing about all P&C lines as well as regulation and litigation. Chad won a Jesse H. Neal Award for Best Single Article in 2014 for his coverage of the insurance implications of traumatic brain injuries and Best News Coverage in 2013 for coverage of Superstorm Sandy. Contact Chad at 212.897.4824 or [email protected].