Pen Underwriting increases Lloyd’s cyber capacity to £55m to support brokers and clients in multiple jurisdictions
Published On : 02 Sep 2020
Pen Underwriting has underlined its commitment to providing brokers with fast, flexible and effective cyber insurance cover for their clients in key territories around the world, following the successful renewal of multiple binders with its consortium of Lloyd’s partners.
Backed by Lloyd’s A-rated security, the agreements will enable Pen to write in excess of £55m in cyber insurance premiums in the UK, US, Canada and New Zealand over the course of the next 12 months – an increase of 15% on the previous year. The capacity covers both Pen’s SME-focused online quote & bind trading facility, available in the four territories, as well as open market capacity for larger accounts.
Pen first entered cyber insurance in 2016 – with its ground-breaking online facility that enables broker partners to quote and bind SME cyber risks in less than five minutes – and has grown rapidly since.
Launched first in the US, due to its longer-established cyber insurance market, the same blend of Lloyd’s capacity partners then extended their support of Pen Underwriting to enable its launch and growth in the UK, Canada and New Zealand. In only four years, backed by the Lloyd’s consortium, Pen has grown to become the 6th largest admitted provider of cyber insurance capacity in the US market and, in 2019, partnered with more than 560 different UK broking houses to ensure their clients had access to standalone cyber cover.
Hamir Patel, Head of Cyber at Pen Underwriting, said: “We’re delighted to have once again renewed and increased our cyber capacity with our Lloyd’s consortium. Digital risks and cyber exposure for every size, type and location of firm are only going in one direction – up. But Pen’s proven track record in providing cost-effective cover for customers while delivering the right underwriting results for our capacity partners, means we are on hand to keep helping more companies with emergency cyber incident response, service restoration and cover for any indemnified losses.”
Adrian Scott, Managing Director of Financial & International Lines at Pen Underwriting, added: “It’s no secret that the increasing frequency and scale of ransomware attacks specifically, as well as internet security and data breach incidents in general, is pulling cyber into sharp focus for insurance markets. Capacity provision to MGAs will undoubtedly become more considered and selective, so not only renewing but increasing the premium value we can write is another great result for Pen, our dedicated cyber team, our brokers and their customers.”
The cyber capacity deal renewal follows Pen’s partnership with the Police Digital Security Centre (PDSC), whereby a premium discount is available to UK SMEs who achieve PDSC ‘Digitally Aware’ certification and purchase cyber insurance cover from Pen through their broker. The scheme is designed to recognise and reward UK SMEs taking their cyber security seriously and investing in their resilience.