Cyber will become so important ‘it will redefine P/C’

The property/casualty (P/C) insurance sector will one day be known as the property/casualty & cyber (P/C&C) sector, such will be the pervasive influence of this risk on the world and the growth of the market, Rupert Swallow, chief executive of Capsicum Re, told Monte Carlo Today.

The reinsurance broker has invested heavily in its capability in this sphere in recent years and this year unveiled a collaboration with AIR Worldwide on an analytics tool designed to better understand so-called silent cyber, whereby an insurer is exposed to cyber risk through more traditional policies—usually because cyber is not specifically excluded.

“It won’t happen overnight but the risks are becoming better understood and people are increasingly looking at how they can mitigate them and get them off the balance sheet,” Swallow said.

“We have invested in this area from early in our development as a company and we are well positioned as a result.”

Swallow also commented on how proud he is of the growth the company has achieved since he and Grahame Chilton, the former boss of Benfield, launched it in 2014. It is now a top 10 reinsurance broker with 140 employees in seven countries—and still growing strong. He will also soon be rejoined by Chilton who returns from running Arthur J Gallagher’s international brokerage operation (Gallagher is Capsicum’s parent company).

“It’s been great fun so far; it is nice to be a disrupter in this industry,” Swallow said. “We fight incredibly hard to win clients and want to advocate for them and do our best for them in every sense.

“On the back of that, we have some very meaningful deep relationships in place.”