MGA targeting broker and SME client education to support full product roll out.
Manchester Underwriting Management (MUM) has opened up its cyber insurance to the full broker market following a soft launch last year.
The managing general agent had previously been working with a handful of brokers but is looking to push ahead in 2018 with an education and preventative measures package for SME clients.
The policy comes with limits from £100,000 to £5m, premiums start at £150 and excesses at £1,000. MUM stated that it can deal with one-man bands through to firms with turnover of up to £200m but was focusing on the SME sector.
Cliff White, head of cyber insurance at MUM told Insurance Age that a recent update meant reputational harm and social engineering were now covered automatically in the product.
And he flagged that the provider’s stance removed “anxiety for brokers”.
Conflict
He explained: “The way we interact with other policy wordings is we state we will be specifically primary to any other contributing insurance.
“That is a core factor and for example takes the conflict off the table with professional indemnity insurers. We have an aggregate excess.”
According to White, some brokers had even bought the product for their own business during the soft launch as he listed industries from hairdressers and motor traders to garden centres and care homes as being suitable for the insurance.
In addition the policy provides a breach response solution, ReSecure, led by law firm RPC with a 24/7 hotline. He pinpointed that all conversations with the lawyers would be privileged as it triaged the best response.
“Brokers and clients like to know that you have service providers lined up so that they have confidence in the event of a breach,” White maintained.
Increase
White has been with MUM since February 2017 working on the product after 30 years as a broker, latterly with Lockton for five years in the cyber team.
He predicted that over the next 12 months there will be an increase in sales of cyber policies due to clients being increasingly concerned about the topic and the impact of GDPR.
“A significant minority of brokers have invested the time, energy and resource into understanding cyber,” he continued. “The balance still need educating.”
Along with the Munich Re-backed policy, MUM has developed a package of demands and needs and question sets to help brokers discuss the product knowledgeably with clients.
In addition it has teamed up with cyber-security firm Berea.
Modules
Berea service is free of charge to MUM policyholders. It is providing Cyber AMI, an online platform that consists of self-assessment and education modules, along with a cyber safety at work advice pack consisting of posters, booklets, stickers and guides.
Founder and Berea CEO, Aaron Yates, set up the business six years ago to provide SMEs with a low cost online option instead of having to pay “consultants £1,000 a day” and has been working with MUM for a year.
“There are so many myths and miscommunications it is making it impossible for small businesses to move from where they are to somewhere better,” he argued.
On the safety at work pack he noted: “A big myth is that hackers are the key threat… but really 80% of claims are due to staff.”
Tools
He also set out that Cyber AMI was a suite of tools designed to embed risk management into a business and detailed that it takes a firm from a standing start to compliance with the UK government’s Cyber Essentials scheme.
“It manages a governance problem in small businesses,” Yates claimed noting that Cyber Essentials could reduce common internet threats.
In particular he analysed that too many cyber solutions are aimed at chief information security officers which SMEs simply do not have.
Instead the offering to MUM policyholders is a set of 24 assessment and educational modules. Generally the process for Cyber Essentials certification takes around three months however it has been achieved in three weeks and users have a year to complete it.
While there is no charge for the service under the MUM policy there is a cost of £350 from the government if users choose to get the final certificate.
Route
However as White concluded there is no penalty in the cover for not using the service or using it but not buying the final certificate.
“What we are trying to do through the application process and with Berea is to make cyber simple and offer practical help,” he concluded.
“There was nothing out there that was specific that would work for SMEs. That is why we have gone down this route.”
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