Specialist insurer Beazley has created a new division focusing on cyber and executive risks. The new division, led by Mike Donovan, brings together the insurer’s directors’ and officers’ (D&O) insurance and employment practices liability (EPL) teams.

Head of the new division, Mike Donovan said the combined expertise of the new team will address a spectrum of risks that are increasingly hard for companies to manage.

“Technological, social and regulatory changes all impinge on these risks and it is critical for our clients to partner with an insurer that can keep pace with these changes. We provide, not simply insurance coverage to respond swiftly to claims, but detailed guidance on risk prevention, mitigation and incident response,” he explained.

“Second, the stakes are very high. We’re protecting critical assets – our clients’ data, their operations, their senior executives, and their corporate reputations. A cyber attack can put all of these assets at risk, but a class action lawsuit against a company’s directors can be comparably damaging. And the acceleration and amplification of bad news through social media means that reputational damage can be inflicted faster and with greater effect.”

The business lines that have been combined within the cyber and executive risk division accounted in aggregate for a little over a quarter of Beazley’s gross written premiums in 2018 and comprise some of its fastest growing products. These include the company’s flagship cyber product, Beazley Breach Response (BBR), and – within its executive risk product suite – M&A transaction liability insurance.

Beazley’s executive risk team currently insures more than 35% of the Fortune 500 and more than half of the companies comprising the Dow Jones Technology Index.

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