BIBA affirms commitment to helping brokers, SMEs battle cyber risk
Earlier this week, the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) unveiled its 2023 Manifesto ‘Managing Risk – Delivering Stability’ – a document which saw the association affirm its obligations to tackling a range of mashing industry concerns.
Key among these was BIBA’s recognition of cyber risk as a critical challenge facing the insurance broking sector, and its counsel that brokers and businesses alike take advantage of the aid and protection afforded by its cyber insurance scheme provider of 20 years – CFC. New research published by BIBA reveals that 40% of respondents are finding that clients who previously held cyber coverage are no longer guaranteeing their cyber risks due to the cost-of-living crisis.
Addressing the “concerning” research in a BIBA Press release, Graeme Trudgill, BIBA executive director, highlighted that cyber risk is growing so it’s more important than ever that businesses understand the safety and wider support available with the right cyber insurance.
“Cyber insurance is not just about making a claim,” he said. “CFC were the trailblazers in formulating an in-house cyber threat monitoring and alerts capability for policyholders alongside its own inhouse 24/7 cyber incident response team. To date, CFC’s monitoring has prevented over 12,000 incidents from occurring and conserved millions in potential losses.”
CFC’s cyber development leader, Lindsey Nelson, noted that many UK businesses are conscious that cyber is their number one exposure but budgetary constraints are minimising uptake. In light of this, she said, CFC has recognised the need to introduce cyber insurance protection that delivers to policyholders from day one. The team remains committed to innovation in the cyber market which has contributed to sealing its scheme provider status with BIBA.
Commenting on some of the cyber innovations that will benefit policyholders, Trudgill said: “BIBA has always looked to support new innovations and since I launched this scheme in 2004 with CFC they have developed two decades of experience in building cyber insurance solutions and handling cyber claims.
“This has made them one of the most established and experienced providers in the market. They are also forward looking and were the first to launch an app enabling policyholders to immediately notify an incident and access a wide range of cyber risk management tools and advice. They uniquely offer a publicly facing ‘Ransomware Calculator’ enabling SMEs – whether policyholders or not – to assess their specific risk.”
Nelson added: “Cyber insurance has never been more relevant and cyber is a key risk to consider, including in customer discussions about their insurance. You don’t need to have a claim to get value from the policy.”
BIBA’s new guide on how insurance intermediaries and small businesses alike can understand the prevailing cyber risks – and the protection provided by cyber insurance – is available from BIBA’s website and in print by request.
