Access cyber cover in minutes with new product offering from Howden

When Howden was formed 30 years ago, we were born into a world of faxes and floppy disks, bulky computer monitors and brick-sized mobiles. Tim Berners-Lee had published the first-ever website, called the WorldWideWeb (W3), at CERN in Switzerland only three years beforehand, and email was in its infancy.

Three decades later, the business technology landscape has evolved beyond our wildest imagination – and so have the risks that surround it. Attacks such as phishing, malware, identity theft, social engineering, and ransomware are becoming ever more sophisticated, and CEOs now consider cyber to be the number one threat to business globally*.

We’ve specialised in providing cyber cover to companies all over the world since 1997, but with organisations needing ever-greater protection, we wanted to make it quicker and easier for them to access the cyber cover they need. And so, in February 2024, we launched Cyber+.

What is Cyber+?

Shay Simkin, Howden’s Global Head of Cyber, explains, “Cyber+ is basically complex cyber cover made simple. It provides comprehensive, scalable cyber insurance for all our clients’ entities, wherever they are in the world. And the real game changer is the simplicity. No long technical questionnaires or complex underwriting processes. Most clients can access a binding quote in minutes by answering just four key questions.”

Within days of Cyber+ launching, a referral came into Howden’s UAE office in Dubai. The client, a strategic business consultancy, was an international company with offices in Switzerland, Germany, UK, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the Cayman Islands, as well as the UAE.

“The client was referred to Howden via another insurer, who’d heard about our new Cyber+ initiative”, explains Tom Cook, Head of Cyber for Middle East and Africa. “He wasn’t able to help but he suggested to them that our new product might be the answer”.

“I went to see them and explained how the policy works. And they loved it. They loved how streamlined it was, they loved the terms, and they loved the fact that it could cover all their entities globally, quickly and easily, with one set of wording.”

“Then it turned out that their HQ was in Switzerland, so we needed to refer it to our colleagues there. This is one of the best things about Howden. We have the global reach and feet on the ground to be able to do this.”

Covering clients globally

Daniel Gsponer, Head of Financial Lines & Cyber in Switzerland, agrees. “Our cyber community is connected worldwide, we know each other very well, so of course I was ready to help when Tom contacted me. Our shared processes and communication make it easy to collaborate across borders – and that helps us create robust and sustainable solutions for our clients.”

“It’s all about teamwork,” adds Tom. “This client needed cover globally. We could do it. It needed to be written in Switzerland. We could do it. When we trust each other to deliver the same level of service, wherever we are in the world – that makes anything possible.”

The policy was bound within two weeks of Cyber+ launching and it’s blazed a trail for hundreds more this year, for clients in every jurisdiction.

But it felt somehow fitting that our first Cyber+ policy was written in Switzerland – birthplace of the world wide web, the place where it all began.

Howden’s global Cyber practice is a growing specialised division committed to delivering the best cyber insurance and cyber risk management solutions for our local and global clients.

Get in touch with us for a demo today by reaching out to your Howden broker for a fast quote, or email us at [email protected] for more information.

*Source: Allianz Risk Barometer 2024