As businesses across Europe prepare for the looming EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which is set to be enforced in May 2018, cyber risk has been pushed further up the corporate agenda for executives across a range of industries and organisations, according to a global survey of over 1,300 executives recently conducted by Marsh.

Of the respondents who are subject to GDPR, 65% viewed cyber risk as a top-five risk management priority. This is roughly double the 32% of respondents that rated cyber as a top-five risk in a similar survey that Marsh conducted in Continental Europe last year, highlighting growing concern among executives in Europe.

As such, it is anticipated that GDPR could be a catalyst for accelerated growth in the European cyber insurance market as businesses look to purchase cover to protect themselves from ever-evolving cyber threats.

Indeed, Marsh highlighted that cyber insurance could help organisations reduce some of the costs and complexity associated with one of the regulation’s main provisions, which gives companies just 72 hours, with few exceptions, to notify regulators and affected data subjects once they learn of a breach.

Marsh also found that only 65% of respondents “preparing” or “compliant” with GDPR said their firm was either already covered by a cyber insurance policy or intending to be within the next year, while about 12% of these respondents said their organisation did not have or plan to buy cyber cover.

With the US cyber insurance landscape becoming increasingly more competitive and a European cyber growth opportunity potentially on the horizon, we at Eames Partnership have taken a proactive approach to assist our clients in identifying and accessing top-quartile talent.

In this rapidly evolving class of business, we have recently completed an in-depth analysis of the talent landscape for both the London cyber insurance underwriting and broking markets, with a European analysis set to follow in the coming months.

If you are interested in learning more about this solution or want to find out how we can help you develop other areas of your business, please contact Matthew Eames at matthew.eames@eamespartnership.com or on +44 (0)207 092 3257.