Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty has announced that it is creating a dedicated Cyber unit in the United States as part of its financial lines portfolio. The Munich-based company has already established a cyber insurance product in Asia, Europe, and Canada and the new branch will now operate out of San Francisco. AGCS’s U.S. Cyber and Specialty Professional Indemnity policy is in response to the frightening growth of cyber attacks in the United States.
The company has also released a white paper titled “A Guide to Cyber Risk: Managing the Impact of Increasing Interconnectivity,” which is very helpful in understanding data protection and privacy as well as the cyber insurance market and its expected trends. According to the report, “cyber risk is costing the global economy $445 billion a year, $108 billion of which comes from the U.S. With fewer than 10% of companies currently purchasing cyber-specific policies, AGCS forecasts that cyber insurance premiums will grow globally from $2 billion per annum today to more than $20 billion over the next decade.” The decision to focus on cyber risk and invest in data protection goes far beyond protecting a company from monetary risks as interruption in business continuity and irreparable damage to a brand’s image and reputation is similarly at risk.