Cyber is the hot topic in the insurance industry right now. The media is swamped with news of global ransomware attacks and mass data breaches, forcing the world to finally open its eyes to the severity of digital attacks.
Competition in the Canadian cyber insurance market is rife, just as it is elsewhere around the world. Every insurer on the block wants to write cyber better than the rivals next door and it seems insurance brokers are also riding the waves of the trend.
In July, cyber was the number one search category on the online broker platform
Insurr. The site offers a comprehensive, up to date listing of specialty and commercial insurance lines from more than 160 insurance providers. It had almost 3,000 users in July, many of whom just couldn’t get enough of cyber insurance.
Search and compare product listings for Cyber Insurance from specialty market providers here
Brokers are the key to greater cyber insurance uptake in Canada, according to Matthew Davies, vice president, media and cyber liability product manager at
Chubb Canada. “Cyber is very topical at the moment,” he told
Insurance Business. “A lot of business owners and boards of directors are asking their insurance brokers about cyber coverage. The insurance broker has a critical role in explaining to their customer how to mitigate cyber risk.”
Insurr has more than 260 cyber coverage listings for the Canadian market – plenty to satisfy the demand of hungry brokers. After cyber, the next most searched category was marijuana, which is hardly surprising given the planned legalization of cannabis in Canada by 2018. Nobody quite knows how legalization will affect the insurance industry – however, what’s widely agreed is that the cannabis market in Canada will be large and will therefore have a significant impact on insurance.
“Everyone is betting on the cannabis market to be quite large,” said Ivan Ross Vrana, senior account director at HKS Strategies. “It’s a very exciting time for insurers but there’s no way of knowing exactly what’s going to happen. It’s going to be an intriguing space to watch over the next year to see what legislation and regulations are put in place and how they will affect the insurance industry.”
As well as cyber and cannabis, other popular Insurr searches included drone insurance, restaurant coverage, home stay and trade credit.
Drones are trendy, up-and-coming pieces of kit that are growing in popularity for recreational and commercial purposes. Last month, Transport Canada proposed a bill for strict drone regulations, including the introduction of compulsory liability insurance of $100,000 for any drone over 250 grams. It is expected that the drone insurance market will continue to soar as drones become more mainstream in Canadian society.
Related stories:
Why it’s not just criminal cyber breaches you should warn your clients about
Tremendous opportunity in legal cannabis market
