Specialist insurer Beazley has said that “early indications” suggest that underwriting actions taken since September 2020 are having a positive impact on cyber ransomware trends.

The comment was made of part of its trading statement for Q1 2021, and is a further indication that the cyber market is continuing to mature in its approach to underwriting.

Beazley also said that its COVID-19 first party loss estimate remains unchanged at $340 million net of reinsurance.

Gross premiums written for the period increased by 16% to $971 million (Q1 2020: $840 million), while premium rates on renewal business increased by 16%, ahead of its expectations.

Overall , Q1 catastrophe losses ares estimated to be approximately $70 million net of reinsurance, whith an investment return of $27 million (Q1 2020: loss of $55 million).

Adrian Cox, Beazley CEO, said:  “We have had a positive start to the year with good rate momentum that is well ahead of our expectations as well as continued strong targeted growth. We expect favourable market conditions to continue and are well positioned to take advantage of them.”

Last month Beazley launched enhanced versions of its cyber policies for businesses domiciled in Germany.

The Beazley Breach Response (BBR) policy provides a privacy breach response management and information security insurance solution for small to medium-sized businesses.

It includes breach response services in addition to first-party coverage for Business Interruption (BI), dependent BI, cyber extortion and data recovery costs as well as eCrime, which covers the insured for fraudulent instruction, funds transfer and telephone fraud.

InfoSec gives large businesses access to first-party cover for cyber risks including cyber extortion, data recovery costs, (BI) and dependent BI arising from security breaches and system failures and eCrime.

It also includes third-party cover for claims arising out of a cyber breach.

In the event of a cyber incident, the Beazley InfoSec policy will also cover costs for legal and forensic services, notification services, call centre services, credit monitoring, identity monitoring or other personal fraud or loss prevention solutions, and public relations and crisis management.