Insurance news

Healthcare organisations across the globe are increasingly at risk from cyberattacks, according to a recent report by data security researcher Rubrik Zero Labs.

The report, “The State of Data Security: Measuring Your Data’s Risk,” provides a comprehensive overview of the cybersecurity landscape, emphasising the risks posed by growing digital infrastructure and cloud adoption. It outlines challenges in safeguarding sensitive data and presents strategies to address the evolving nature of cyber threats.

The study, conducted by Wakefield Research, surveyed 1,625 IT and security decision-makers from companies with 500 or more employees. Respondents included CIOs, CISOs, and VPs/directors of IT and security from 10 countries. The survey supplemented Rubrik telemetry from over 6,000 clients, spanning 22 industries and 68 countries, covering 42 exabytes of secured storage and 38 billion sensitive records from January to December 2023.

Commenting on the findings, Rubrik Zero Labs head Steven Stone (pictured) said: “The more we talk about cyber threats like ransomware, and its impact on industries like healthcare, the more we can collaborate to minimise the risk calculus and ultimately beat cyber attackers trying to impede our businesses.”

Sensitive data in the healthcare industry

The report noted that healthcare organisations manage 22% more data than the global average. Their data estates expanded by 27% in the past year, and sensitive records grew by 63%, well above the global average of 13%.

A typical healthcare organisation holds 42 million sensitive records, which is 50% more than the global average.

Ransomware attacks’ impacts on healthcare organisations

According to the report, ransomware attacks affect nearly five times more sensitive data in healthcare organisations than the global average.

Each successful ransomware event impacts 20% of a healthcare organisation’s sensitive data, compared to 6% for other industries.

Cloud adoption in the healthcare industry and security blind spots

The report found that cloud storage increased to 13% of organisations’ data in 2023, up from 9% in the previous year. Meanwhile, on-premises storage declined from 77% to 70%.

With cloud integration, hybrid environments faced significant cyberattacks, impacting SaaS data (67%), cloud storage (66%), and on-premises storage (51%).

Cyberattacks’ impact on IT and security teams

Focusing on the impacts of cyberattacks on IT and security teams in healthcare organisations, the report revealed that 94% of IT and security leaders experienced a significant cyberattack, averaging 30 attacks annually, with a third including ransomware.

Among healthcare organisations that faced a ransomware attack, 93% reported paying a ransom, with 58% motivated by threats to leak stolen data.

Focusing on the impacts of cyberattacks, 96% of IT and security leaders reported emotional or psychological effects from such incidents, including 38% worrying about job security. Additionally, 44% of organisations reported leadership changes following cyberattacks, up from 36% in Rubrik Zero Labs’ previous report.

Global law firm Kennedys has announced its latest partner promotions, adding 17 new partners to its international roster.

This move brings the firm’s total number of partners to 349. The appointments will take effect on May 1.

New partners at Kennedys

The newly promoted partners include nine women and eight men. The promotions span various regions across the firm’s global network: Asia Pacific (APAC), EMEA, North America, and the UK.

Asia Pacific

• Bertha Ng (Hong Kong)
• Nathan Buck (Sydney)
• Con Kakakios (Sydney)

EMEA

• Reem Bangina (Dubai)
• Mehdi Seadon (Dubai)
• Rishi Sengupta (Dubai)

North America

• Ryan McInerney (Basking Ridge)
• Nate French (Chicago)
• Colin Willmott (Chicago)
• Hilary Simon (New York)
• Shain Wasser (San Francisco)

The UK

• Lauren Gosnell (Manchester)
• Elisa Peachey (London)
• Laura Madders (London)
• Philip Kusiak (London)
• Rebecca Maby (London)
• Vicki Teasdale (London)

See LinkedIn post here.

Talent development at Kennedys

Kennedys senior partner Nick Thomas said the firm is committed to talent development and progression.

“The success of the firm is down to the exceptional talent of our people. We are committed to developing our people and rewarding their contribution to our success. We pride ourselves on having clear routes to success and work hard to invest in our people, and so it is incredibly rewarding to be able to welcome this year’s cohort into the partnership,” he said. “Each and every one of them has worked hard to reach this milestone in their career, bringing depth and breadth of knowledge to their colleagues and clients. I look forward to watching their careers progress further.”

Chief people officer Alan Demirkaya highlighted the importance of a nurturing culture: “We place a real emphasis on investing in and nurturing our talent, as our people are our business. By providing clear career progression, a supportive culture, and an inclusive working environment where they can thrive. We want to watch their careers grow with us as we become the destination for talent in the legal market.”

QBE Insurance Group Limited (QBE) has appointed Nicola Schroder as its new group head of sustainability.

Schroder’s new role includes overseeing sustainability governance, implementing related strategies, tackling human rights and modern slavery initiatives, and steering social impact via the QBE Foundation.

Who is Nicola Schroder?

Schroder (pictured) brings two decades of experience in various sectors, including insurance, engineering, property, and banking. During her tenure at QBE, she has advanced its sustainability agenda, most recently as head of environment and transition, where she developed a net-zero operations roadmap.

Schroder holds a bachelor of science and a master’s degree in environment, governance, policy, and communication from the University of Melbourne.

She also chairs the Insurance Council of Australia’s (ICA) Net Zero Working Group, serves on the UNEPFI Principles for Sustainable Insurance board, and is part of QBE’s AUSPAC Foundation Committee and the ICA’s Climate and Resilience Committee.

Nicola Schroder’s contributions to QBE

Viv Bower, QBE’s group executive for corporate affairs and sustainability, noted Schroder’s significant contributions over the past five years, particularly her leadership in driving the company’s sustainability strategy.

“Nicola has been instrumental in driving our sustainability initiatives over the last 5 years. Her deep expertise and leadership will be invaluable as we continue to integrate sustainability across the enterprise,” Bower said. “Together with our dedicated team, Nicola will play a key role in advancing our sustainability agenda.”

QBE is now recruiting to fill Schroder’s previous position.

At its recent annual general meeting, Munich Re approved a dividend of $15 per share for the 2023 financial year, up from $11.60 in 2022, resulting in a total dividend payout of approximately $2.0 billion.

Additionally, Roland Busch, Julia Jäkel, Victoria Ossadnik, and Jens Weidmann were elected to the reinsurer’s supervisory board.

During his address to the shareholders, Joachim Wenning, chair of Munich Re’s board of management, reflected positively on the company’s performance.

“2023 is the latest pinnacle in a winning streak of good years,” Wenning said. He also credited the success to the “Ambition 2025” strategy, which has consistently led Munich Re to exceed its annual profit targets since its inception.

Wenning reported a net result of $4.6 billion for the past financial year and projected a result of $5.0 billion for 2024. He expressed optimism about the continuing favorable conditions for property-casualty reinsurers and the outcomes of recent contract renewals, which he described as positive in terms of profitability and portfolio quality.

“What’s more, we don’t anticipate this trend to weaken during this year’s remaining renewal rounds,” he said.

However, Wenning shifted to express concerns regarding the economic challenges in Europe, particularly in Germany. He highlighted issues such as demographic shifts, fewer working hours compared to other countries, high energy costs, excessive bureaucracy, complex authorization processes, and high corporate taxes as factors impairing Germany’s economic strength.

To address these challenges, Wenning advocated for a “comprehensive turnaround program” that includes bold decision-making, budget reprioritization, and potentially expanded government borrowing to stimulate investment and work incentives.

He concluded by suggesting the need for an ambitious long-term plan, referred to as Agenda 2030, 2035, or 2040, to rejuvenate Germany’s economic landscape.

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Russia’s state-owned reinsurer has facilitated financial support for three Russian insurance firms to gain Indian regulatory approval to provide marine insurance to tankers, according to sources from a Reuters report.

This development comes as Moscow aims to bolster trade with India amidst the backdrop of Western sanctions due to its actions in Ukraine.

The sanctions imposed by the US and its allies have significantly restricted Russia’s access to the global services network, including insurers and brokers. As a result, Russian companies Sogaz Insurance, Alfastrakhovanie, and VSK Insurance have now joined Ingosstrakh in being authorized by India to offer marine insurance, as indicated by an announcement on the Indian shipping regulator’s website.

The approval of the three insurers by India followed after the Russian National Reinsurance Company (RNRC), backed by the Russian government, provided financial guarantees. This is the first instance of RNRC’s involvement in enabling these Russian insurers to be recognized in India, Reuters said.

Significantly, the RNRC has faced sanctions from the UK and European Union in 2023, which could complicate its international engagements.

The Directorate General of Shipping in India did not provide a response to inquiries about this matter.

In contrast, an Ingosstrakh spokesperson released a statement regarding the supposed backing.

“Ingosstrakh is not expanding its maritime insurance activities to India. Our relationship with India in the marine insurance industry has spanned over 57 years, dating back to 1967 when we opened our office in Mumbai,” the spokesperson said.

The newly approved Russian insurers, which specialize in protection and indemnity (P&I) insurance, do not belong to the Europe-based International Group (IG) of P&I clubs, which covers about 90% of the global ocean-going shipping tonnage.

“A due procedure has been followed (by the Indian shipping regulator) for including these new entities in the list of non-IG companies that can provide insurance,” a source said to Reuters.

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Allianz Partners, a major global insurance and assistance provider, has disclosed its financial outcomes for the year 2023, setting new records for revenue and operational profit.

Performance of Allianz Partners’ health segment

In the health business segment, revenues surged by 23.4% to reach 2.959 billion euros. This growth was propelled by organic expansion, increased engagement in the small and mid-size enterprise (SME) sector, and forging new alliances with local insurance entities.

A significant role in this growth was played by the enhancement of the digital health services through the Lumi health ecosystem, which served over a million users in the past year.

Performance of Allianz Partners’ travel insurance segment

The travel insurance division reported an 8.0% increase in revenues, totalling 3.297 billion euros. The resurgence of travel activities in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly following the lifting of travel restrictions in Australia and New Zealand, contributed to this rise.

See LinkedIn post here.

Additionally, sustained advancements in North America and Europe helped bolster the segment’s performance. The recent introduction of the allyz mobile app marked a significant stride in the company’s digital outreach.

Performance of Allianz Partners’ mobility and assistance segment

The mobility & assistance segment showed a revenue increase of 11.2%, amounting to 2.902 billion euros. This was led by the robust performance of the roadside assistance and home businesses across Europe and Latin America.

Despite stability in the mobile device and digital risk (MDDR) business, remarkable growth was noted in markets such as India, Spain, and France.

Allianz Partners businesses’ growth in 2023

CEO Tomas Kunzmann reflected on the year’s achievements, noting significant strides in all key business areas, including travel, health, assistance, and mobility services.

“2023 was another record year for Allianz Partners in terms of total revenues and profits, following the record results in 2022. The travel business continues to thrive, our healthcare business saw tremendous growth and there was excellent momentum in our assistance and mobility business globally. As a result, our continued growth is built on solid foundations as we invest in the digitalisation of our services while ensuring the human touch and the highest levels of customer satisfaction,” he said.

Allianz Partners’ performance forecast

Looking forward, Kunzmann remains optimistic about the company’s trajectory, attributing its strong position to the dedication of over 22,000 global employees. He emphasised the strategic goals set for 2030, aiming to double the company’s revenues through continuous innovation and a focus on digital enhancements.

“Thanks to the commitment of our team of more than 22,000 employees around the world, I am very positive about the outlook for the coming years and that we are on track to achieve our goal of doubling revenues by 2030,” he said.

Nearly four in 10 users of generative AI in the workplace say they are saving up to 10 hours a week, as a new report revealed the widespread use of the technology at work.

Contentful’s survey among 820 people across the world found that 37% of daily gen AI users are saving between five to 10 hours a week.

Another 38% reported saving between one to almost five hours of time at work thanks to gen AI tools, according to the report.

There are nine per cent who reported saving between 11 to 20 hours of work, while two per cent said they are able to save more than 20 hours.

The length of time saved also varied depending on roles, with more people in technical roles saving between five and 10 hours at work.

Employees in non-technical roles, on the other hand, are more likely to save between one to less than five hours.

Source: Contentful’s Generative AI Professional Usage and Perception Survey

“Gen AI is here to stay. It has the power to radically transform how we work together across teams and departments,” said Karthik Rau, CEO of Contentful, in a statement.

“By fostering a culture of knowledge and responsible usage, organisations can empower their workforce to harness the full capabilities of gen AI while unlocking the creativity of their teams.”

Access to generative AI

The time-saving benefits of gen AI at work come as more employers invest in such tools for their workforce, according to the report. It found that more than three-quarters of respondents have company-paid access to gen AI tools at work, with 61% of employees saying employer-provided access is “for the better.”

“Overall, most respondents view a potential employer’s decision to provide access to gen AI tools favourably in choosing whether or not to take a job, with far more ambivalence than any negative impact,” the report read.

Source: Contentful’s Generative AI Professional Usage and Perception Survey

According to the report, only 29% of the respondents said they have no interest or need for generative AI tools at work, citing concern or fears (13%), lack of knowledge (16%), and the lack of opportunity (11%).

Over two decades of serving the market have gifted the Bermuda-based reinsurance stalwart Sal Tucci (pictured) with a healthy respect for the ‘organised chaos’ that is how reinsurance brokers operate.

With credits to his name including time at Aon Re Services and Aspen, and having launched his own reinsurance brokerage Reinsurex in the early 2000s, the throughline of Tucci’s career to date has been his recognition that the key to creating innovative solutions in reinsurance is understanding the mind of the market. It was on this foundation he launched Jireh Holdings Ltd with the ambition of supporting clients with ILS risk transformation, fronting and advisory services.

Backing innovation in reinsurance broking

Almost a year to the day of its launch, the firm’s reinsurance broker platform Jireh Connect announced its first industry loss warranty (ILW) placement and, in conversation with Re-Insurance Business, Tucci noted that the positive reaction to the business reflects the appetite for innovation at the heart of the market. What Jireh is looking to do is help reinsurance businesses think about how they innovate more around their current resources, he said, whether that’s people, products or technology.

“I started Jireh last year with a view to helping these companies innovate because what I’ve found is that many reinsurance companies do a really good job at their core underwriting, quoting, claims handling and their core reserving – which is what they should be doing,” he said. “But everyone’s calendars are so filled with meetings that one quarter tends to bleed into the next and it seems you never have the opportunity to step back and just think. And the projects that do get kicked off tend to go nowhere because no-one can focus on them.”

What reinsurance companies need is to partner with strategic innovators who can help them understand what it will take to make an instrumental difference within their organisation – whether that’s process, product or technology innovation. Most people tend to jump straight from A-to-Z when it comes to technology innovation, with GenAI offering a prime example, he said, which can be interesting and exciting, but all too often is not practical.

“It’s like owning a Ferrari and living in Bermuda where the roads are too narrow to go faster than 40km per hour,” he said. “It looks great but it makes no practical sense. Our sector has got so many other areas we could focus on from a technology standpoint that, by comparison, look mundane and boring. For instance, we’ve got way too many people doing way too many tasks and processes that could be automated.

“Implementing common sense, basic technology that helps you deliver better products and services to your customers or your capital market investors in a much more transparent way is a much better use of your time and resources than investing in the bright red ‘Ferrari’ of a high-cost transformation project.”

Creating solutions for the problems the market actually faces

Jireh Connect was built out of a small reinsurance broker’s demand for a tech solution to the challenges they faced when trying to effectively distribute and manage their opportunities in the marketplace. It’s a SaaS-based solution, Tucci said, which empowers brokers to manage, distribute their deals and then manage and track the resulting feedback, so it can be reported on later. This not only generates significant market intelligence but also allows this data to be moved in a structured way to the broker’s downstream systems – be those claims, finances or documentation systems.

“Because, all too often, many brokerage companies on the reinsurance side go out to the market but when the market responds, they’re storing those responses here and there,” he said. “And when a deal is done it can take three, four, even five weeks to document that deal. Whereas if you actually capture it in a structured way where the deal details are upfront, everybody can be on the same page and it prevents double-keying.”

It’s critical to solve that data input challenge, he said, because if you don’t capture the data correctly early in the insurance process then by the time it gets to the reinsurers’ level, it’s simply not as effective as it could be. As to why the market has tried and failed to effectively solve this problem for the last 20 years, he noted that there are two core factors at play – either developers are creating solutions that are ‘trendy’ rather than what the market needs and wants or they’re coming at the solution from the wrong perspective.

“They’re looking at this curious, idiosyncratic market that we love to death – which is insurance and reinsurance – through more of a Wall Street or Silicon Valley lens,” he said. “They can’t get their head around the idea that somebody buying an insurance policy goes to a broker who goes to an insurer, and sometimes a retail broker goes to a wholesale broker who then goes to the wholesale market.

“And there’s a reinsurance broker who an insurance company buys reinsurance from and there’s a retro broker… So, by the time you spend $1 on insurance premium, the guy at the end gets 30 cents. The people looking in think it’s dysfunctional and I think we could all agree our market is very unique! But it’s been operating like this for 100 years and it’s been operating well, so it’s dysfunctionally functional.”

Understanding the power of relationships in reinsurance

Coming from the outside means developers don’t appreciate the nuance of how the market operates, he said, or the powerful emphasis placed on relationships. They think it’s as simple as matching risk with capital so when they build solutions, they do so without a genuine understanding of what the market wants. Twenty-five (25) years spent running and working with re/insurance brokerages has given Tucci a clear overview of what the market wants – which is to do what it’s doing better, faster and in a more streamlined way.

Taking a descriptive rather than prescriptive approach to digitizing insurance and reinsurance processes has been the key, he said, because different clients move at different speeds, and have different expectations about how they can make their data work for them. Innovating the re/insurance market isn’t about taking a “one size fits all” approach to putting technology to work or about reinventing the wheel.

Rather, he said, it’s about meeting brokers where they want to be met and helping them solve the challenges that are impeding the bread and butter of their businesses – by helping to coordinate their reinsurance placements, distribute deals, securely share documents with markets and capture external market feedback. The early feedback has been very strong, with the platform managing nearly $100 million of capacity in its first month, and Tucci said he’s looking forward to seeing where the platform goes next as more markets start to actively engage on the platform.

Insights from Munich Re highlight the intricate relationship between data utilization and the development of insurance strategies for managing cyber risks, as well as the impact of re-underwriting ransomware as it becomes more prevalent.

The cyber insurance sector is undergoing significant evolution it was noted, especially in its response to the challenges presented by ransomware.

In the wake of a noticeable increase in ransomware claims around 2019, cyber insurers saw their loss ratios escalate dramatically – some estimates indicate nearly a fourfold increase in ransomware claims frequency from 2017 to 2020. This surge pushed many insurers’ loss ratios to or beyond the 100% threshold.

The industry then responded with significant rate hikes from 2020 to 2022, leading to a subsequent improvement in financial outcomes, which some industry experts now believe could result in future rate reductions.

Modeling the effects of rate changes on an insurer’s financial performance can provide clear insights. For instance, a hypothetical scenario outlined by Munich Re shows an insurer starting with a 150% loss ratio, but after tripling rates, this ratio could be reduced to 50%. If this insurer were to then implement a 10% rate reduction, their loss ratio would potentially increase to 56%, with another reduction possibly raising it further to 62%.

This scenario, Munich Re explained, underscores the swift impact that rate adjustments can have on financial health, particularly the compound effect of even modest rate reductions on the loss ratio and the overall bottom line.

An essential in assessing current cyber rates

The improvements observed in cyber risk results for 2022 may also be attributed to several factors, including rate adjustments, enhanced risk selection techniques, or a decrease in underlying ransomware activities.

Munich Re noted that the sustainability of these improvements, complicated by factors such as the lengthening of claim development patterns and external influences, remains uncertain.

For insurers, understanding the full impact of re-underwriting is essential to assess the adequacy of current rates. According to Munich Re, a significant portion of the observed improvements was driven by rate adjustments and reductions in ransomware attack frequencies.

However, distinguishing the impact of re-underwriting from that of reduced attack rates due to geopolitical changes is crucial. This analysis will help predict the likelihood of a resurgence in claims if geopolitical conditions shift.

Insurers use claim count triangles, which track loss frequency over time, as a foundational tool in this analysis. By focusing specifically on ransomware claim counts, insurers can obtain a clearer view of trends and measure the effectiveness of their risk selection strategies, it was stated.

Munich Re emphasized the importance of continuously quantifying and enhancing these strategies to maintain growth and profitability.

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