US insurers write cyber insurance premiums totalling $1bn in 2015: Fitch
US property/casualty insurers writing cyber coverage wrote approximately $1 billion in direct written premiums volume in 2015, according to analysis from Fitch Ratings.
According to Fitch, the largest writers are American International Group (AIG), accounting for approximately 22 percent of the market, Chubb Limited (CB) at 12 percent, and XL Group at 11 percent.
Fitch believes cyber-related insurance coverage represents a significant growth opportunity for property/casualty insurers.
Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) estimated that in 2014 the global insurance market wrote approximately $2 billion in cyber insurance premiums, which could multiply by a magnitude of three to five times by 2020.
James Auden, managing director of Fitch Ratings, said: "Industry estimates suggest that the global cyber insurance business could increase to $20 billion by 2020, but the lack of information on cyber insurance is a challenge for insurance companies, policyholders, regulators, and investors to evaluate and price risk.
"Challenges in isolating cyber related premiums and exposures from other risks within a package policy create limitations in analysing the supplemental filing as total cyber insurance premiums are likely understated."
Fitch said the property/casualty industry's direct loss ratio for cyber stand-alone business in 2015 was 65.2 percent.
Gerry Glombicki, director of Fitch Ratings, added: "The ultimate profitability of the P/C industry's cyber insurance efforts will take some time to assess as the market matures and future cyber-related loss events emerge.”
