Only seven percent of companies insured against cyber attacks
The Swiss Insurance Association SIA presents new figures on the cyber insurance market. According to these figures, there is great potential for cyber insurance. In order to increase insurability, the companies to be insured are also required to take specific preventive measures.
The Swiss Insurance Association SIA has presented a new risk model for cyber risks. It was developed for Switzerland for the first time in collaboration with Moody's RMS, one of the leading providers of risk models and analyses. The extent and probability of outsized cyber event losses were calculated. "With the risk model, we were able to take an important step towards further increasing the quantifiability - and thus above all the insurability - of cyber risks in Switzerland," comments Urs Arbter, Director of the SIA, on the collaboration with the risk model specialist.
According to the model presented, for example, there is a one percent chance of a cyber event every year, which would be associated with a total economic loss of over CHF 2.5 billion. Such an event can therefore be expected on average once every hundred years. However, according to this estimate, only losses of just under CHF 155 million would actually be insured under current conditions. The risk model presented thus points to an insurance gap that is estimated at over 90 percent in Switzerland.
An insurance market with great potential
Given the relatively low penetration of cyber policies to date, this coverage gap is not surprising. Only just over 7% of companies in Switzerland are currently insured against cyber attacks. Thanks to a recent survey by the SIA, this too can be reliably estimated for the first time: For the year 2022, the industry association of private insurers has calculated a premium volume of around CHF 108 million, spread across 46,000 corporate customers and around 292,000 private customers.
At the same time, the market for cyber insurance products is also growing rapidly in Switzerland. On average, the premium volume is expected to double every two years. "There is still huge potential for cyber insurance in Switzerland," says Arbter, assessing the local market. According to Martin Jara, CEO of Helvetia Switzerland and SIA Board member, it is now up to the industry to close the existing insurance gaps. "The focus here is on three measures: the implementation of specific prevention measures by the companies to be insured, systematic data collection in collaboration with the relevant government and scientific institutions and an increase in current market coverage".
Source: Swiss Insurance Association SIA
