Following the well-publicized large data breaches at Home Depot, Sony, Target, Anthem and others, larger-revenue firms started looking to build up bigger programs. AmWINS is answering the call with a new product that addresses the need for higher cyber liability limits.
PRODUCT: Excess cyber liability
COMPANY: Lloyd’s of London
BEST RATING: A (Excellent)
AVAILABILITY: Coverage is available through any agent or broker that does business with AmWINS.
FOCUS: Following the well-publicized large data breaches at Home Depot, Sony, Target, Anthem and others, larger-revenue firms started looking to build up bigger programs, according to David Lewison, senior vice president, financial services national practice leader for the AmWINS Brokerage Group. And AmWINS is answering the call by introducing a new product to address the need for higher cyber liability limits.
“The brokers placing those large limits have been scrambling to fill out those requests,” Lewison says, noting that the current solution is to call multiple insurers and shuffle them around to find the most competitive option at each attachment point.
Compiling quota shares with domestic insurers can be time-consuming for global brokers, but Lewison says the AmWINS product is preset with the Lloyd’s syndicates, so it fills large blocks of capacity more efficiently. Locating the excess liability through a single source also helps reduce the conflict between each insurer’s excess policy forms, Lewison adds.
AmWINS has been selling cyber liability insurance since the product’s inception about 15 years ago and seeks to educate retailers on the coverage due to its evolving nature, lack of standard forms and the fact that the coverage is relatively new to most buyers—who often take more than a year to purchase the coverage after initially considering it.
“We can deliver large capacity in a fraction of the time it would take to place each piece separately,” says Lewison, who points out that once a buyer accepts that they have a large and otherwise uninsured exposure, they often rush to get higher limits.
UNDERWRITING: The maximum limit under the line slip is $100 million. The policy is typically annual, but is available for a longer term if the primary policy is more than 12 months. The premium for the product varies depending on the industry, revenue size and attachment point. There are no sublimits on the policy—the expenses and settlements can use the full policy limits, and special endorsements are required if the underlying program has sublimits.
Attachment points can be as low as $5 million and no classes or industries are excluded. To underwrite the accounts, Lewison says line slip underwriters need copies of the application used for the primary policy and the underlying quotes, binders and policies, as well as typically some financial information. As a follow-form policy, the primary insurer sets many of the terms and conditions.
MINIMUM PREMIUM: No defined minimum premium, but AmWINS and brokers may discuss on a case-by-case basis.
TARGET: Buyers who require limits in excess of $50 million. There are no excluded classes and the product can attach lower than $50 million, but the $25-100 million block is the primary target.
COVERAGE TERRITORY: U.S. domiciled insureds, though coverage applies worldwide.
CONTACT: David Lewison, senior vice president, financial services national practice leader; AmWINS Brokerage Group, 88 Pine Street, New York, NY 10005; 212-858-8975.
Ronimarie Acord is an IA contributor.
