Cyber insurance to grow to $4bn by 2021 – Aon

The cyber insurance market continues to outpace other commercial lines, and will reach $4bn globally by 2021, according to a report from Aon.

That would represent a compound annual growth rate of 14.1%, the insurance broker said.

The cyber market has grown by 23% annually on average over the past five years, according to Aon.

Overall, the worldwide commercial lines market is worth $730bn and is predicted to rise at an annual rate of 5.3% by 2021 to reach almost $900bn

“Larger product categories – bought by the biggest multinational firms – grew the fastest from 2013-2017, Aon noted, reaching $192bn in 2017.

Financial institutions, mining and minerals, and the technology and media sectors were the segments predicted by Aon to expand more rapidly than the rest of the commercial insurance pack, predicted to grow by about 6% annually.

Manufacturing generated the highest premiums globally in 2017, worth some $111bn, across all types of commercial property and casualty (non-life) insurance purchased, according to Aon.

After manufacturing came agriculture, fishing and forestry – boosted by Chinese and US demand – at $72bn.

Aon’s series of global studies looked at insurance purchased by corporate, public sector and not-for-profit organisations between 2013 and 2017 and forecasted trends to 2021.

“As we look ahead, we are seeing a broad shift of companies putting a greater value on intangible assets, such as cyber and intellectual property,” said Michael Moran, CEO of Aon Inpoint.

“There are multiple reasons for the increased focus and increased premiums ranging from financial statement protection due to a business interruption to the constantly evolving global regulatory environment including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation,” said Moran.

Moran added, “At this time, a standardized data set that describes the size and segmentation of commercial lines insurance does not exist in the market. Our research, which segments the global market in detail by product, industry and client size, fills an important gap, and can be used by insurers to identify new underwriting opportunities worldwide.”