Emergence can provide up to $10 million capacity on a primary basis through its online portal, but many companies seek higher limits.
Jeff Gonlin, Emergence’s Head of Underwriting & Product Development, said the launch followed market demand, driven by contractual obligations and clients seeking higher policy limits because of greater awareness of potential exposures.
Mr Gonlin said there was a growing appreciation of third-party risk, leading astute companies to scrutinise business partners from a cyber risk perspective, including requirements to carry cyber insurance.
“It’s common practice to require public liability, professional indemnity and other insurances with limits of $10 million, $20 million or more,” he said. “As cyber insurance becomes mainstream, business partners are expected to carry meaningful cyber limits, too.”
Mr Gonlin said Emergence did not have to write the underlying policy. Many insurers were not keen to provide capacity beyond $10 million, but Emergence would follow the underlying policy, after reviewing how it was underwritten and structured, and who was responsible for claims management.
“We’ll help clients build a tower to ensure they reach the desired capacity,” he said.
Cyber claims’ severity was increasing and the global market had seen some large claims.
“Many companies still have no cyber insurance whatsoever. Whether you do business overseas or run a purely domestic operation, all companies should protect their assets with appropriate limits of insurance. For cyber, that could necessitate XOL cover,” Mr Gonlin said.
Emergence has written XOL policies for some time on a bespoke basis and has used those learnings to develop its latest offering.
“With increasing interest in the product, the decision to make it part of our standard offering was easy,” Mr Gonlin said.
Policies are negotiated individually and tailored to clients’ circumstances.
