Moody’s RMS Launches Cyber Industry Steering Group to Facilitate Growth Potential of the Global Cyber Insurance Market

LONDON – September 12, 2023 – Moody’s RMS™, the leading global catastrophe risk modeling and solutions company, has announced the launch of Moody's RMS Cyber Industry Steering Group to develop industry initiatives that respond to the growth of the global cyber insurance market.

Leading market participants Munich Re and Gallagher Re, and global cyber risk management leader Bitsight have joined the steering group, with other industry partners from across the insurance ecosystem to follow.

With cyber underwriting offering huge growth potential, the group has been formed to tackle the current constraints to growth in the cyber insurance market.

These constraints include a lack of standardization across different market functions, and with cyber representing a fast-moving, emerging peril, there is still a lack of confidence and insufficient comfort across insurance boardrooms, investors, and the regulatory community around cyber risk.

The participants share a vital interest in growing the cyber insurance market, and together they will advise and steer the group in developing and supporting a long-term strategy that increases risk analytics transparency and advances the industry’s view of cyber risk. Achieving a greater understanding of cyber risk will help provide the reassurance and confidence required by the industry to seize growth opportunities.

In addition, Moody’s RMS has announced significant increases in its cyber risk analytics investment to help realize the market’s growth potential. For Moody’s RMS, this enhanced investment in cyber analytics will look to develop a unified currency of cyber risk across underwriting, systemic aggregation, and risk management.

Michael Steel, General Manager, Moody’s RMS, said: “There is a clear need and a significant opportunity to accelerate growth in the global cyber underwriting market. However, there are many legitimate concerns around risk, regulation, and the lack of standardization. We are therefore committing to significantly increase our investment in cyber modeling, as we see this effort as central in our role to help develop new markets for the industry’s growth.

The introduction of Moody’s RMS Cyber Industry Steering Group represents a significant step forward in helping focus these investments and bring together industry-wide efforts to solve challenges and ultimately create a unified currency of risk across underwriting, aggregation, and risk management.” 

Dr Jürgen Reinhart, Chief Cyber Underwriter, Munich Re, said: “Cyber insurance is a dynamically developing line of business, projected to grow rapidly in the coming years. It is vital that this growth be underpinned by reliable and widely accepted models, both to foster a sustainable market and to ensure further capacity.

Initiatives like these play a significant role in improving industry-wide understanding of cyber accumulation risk and underwriting quality, while also strengthening stakeholder confidence. Munich Re is proud to collaborate closely with other insurers and vendors on this initiative as we seek to meet the demands of the growing market.”

Tom Wakefield, Global CEO, Gallagher Re, said: “Cyber represents both a systemic risk and huge opportunity for our industry. In a market likely to always be capital-constrained due to the sheer scale of future demand for risk transfer, our biggest challenge is attracting enough capital to support clients’ growth in this area.

Gallagher Re’s dedicated cyber team spends an incredible amount of time educating potential investors and capacity providers, getting them comfortable with the risks, and addressing correlation concerns to bring in that additional capital. So, by combining the expertise and insight of leading cyber (re)insurers, brokers, and catastrophe risk modelers in an industry steering group, we’ll produce a powerful mechanism for advancing the wider industry’s view of cyber risk. We are proud to partner with Moody’s RMS on this important initiative.”

Derek Vadala, Chief Risk Officer, Bitsight, added: “Strong partnerships are essential to successfully managing cyber risk because it is a complex, persistent, and asymmetric threat for organizations of all industries and sizes. Bitsight is excited to further expand its partnership with Moody’s RMS by joining other leaders in the insurance industry in helping manage this critical, exponential risk.

As the creator of the cyber security ratings market, Bitsight helps organizations by leveraging its vast set of cyber exposure data and its proven cyber risk models which provide correlation to cybersecurity incidents. We look forward to working together in order to help address this important global issue.”

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About Munich Re

Munich Re is one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance, primary insurance, and insurance-related risk solutions. The Group consists of the reinsurance and ERGO business segments, as well as the asset manager MEAG. Munich Re is globally active and operates in all lines of the insurance business.

Since it was founded in 1880, Munich Re has been known for its unrivaled risk-related expertise and its sound financial position. It offers customers financial protection when faced with exceptional levels of damage – from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake through Hurricane Ida in 2021.

Munich Re possesses outstanding innovative strength, which enables it to also provide coverage for extraordinary the range of services that it offers. Its tailor-made solutions and close proximity to its customers make Munich Re one of the world’s most sought-after risk partners for businesses, institutions, and private individuals.

Disclaimer
This media release contains forward-looking statements that are based on current assumptions and forecasts of the management of Munich Re. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors could lead to material differences between the forward-looking statements given here and the actual development of our Company, in particular the results, financial situation, and performance.

The Company assumes no liability to update these forward-looking statements or to make them conform to future events or developments.

About Gallagher Re

One of the world’s largest reinsurance brokers and advisory firms, operating across the risk and capital spectrum, Gallagher Re is part of Gallagher, the global brokerage, risk management, and consulting services firm (NYSE: AJG) headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois.

Originally founded in 2013 as the co-venture ‘Capsicum Re’ with Gallagher, the business grew rapidly and became wholly owned by Gallagher in 2020. In December 2021, the transformational acquisition of Willis Re was completed, making Gallagher Re the world’s third-largest reinsurance broker with a team of over 2,600 colleagues trading from more than 70 offices across 31 countries including all the key global reinsurance hubs of North America, Europe, and Asia.

Gallagher Re prioritizes client advocacy above all else and offers clients a powerful combination of global and specialist expertise and geographic reach.

By combining world-class analytics capabilities with reinsurance expertise, strategic advisory services, and transactional excellence, Gallagher Re helps clients drive greater value from their businesses, negotiate optimum terms, and make better reinsurance decisions. Its global client base includes all of the world’s top insurance and reinsurance carriers as well as national catastrophe schemes in many countries around the world.

For more information see www.gallagherre.com

About Bitsight

Bitsight is a global cyber risk management leader transforming how organizations manage exposure, performance, and risk for themselves and their third parties. Companies rely on Bitsight to prioritize their cybersecurity investments, build greater trust within their ecosystem, and reduce their chances of financial loss.

Built on over a decade of market-leading innovation, its integrated solutions deliver value across enterprise security performance, digital supply chains, cyber insurance, and data analysis.