Beazley and fellow operators of Lloyd’s syndicates Aspen Insurance and Brit Global Specialty have created the International Cyber Consortium (ICC) to underwrite data breach coverage for non-US businesses.

Beazley will manage the consortium and lead on claims handling.

The ICC will cover non-US companies with revenue of more than $US5 billion ($7.1 billion) across all industries.

It will bring an extra $US60 million ($85.8 million) of premium capacity to the cyber-insurance market.

Beazley’s Head of London and International Business for the technology, media and business operation Paul Bantick says companies outside the US are “rapidly discovering a data breach is not a matter of if, but when”.

“The sequence of high-profile data breaches we have seen at US retailers, banks and healthcare institutions has underlined the need for robust insurance cover,” he said.

“Businesses outside the US hold just as much personal data in trust for their customers, and the reputational consequences of a data breach can be severe.”

Brit Class Underwriter for Global Cyber, Privacy and Technology Ben Maidment says the ICC is “empowering Lloyd’s brokers to offer insurance that is competitive with what companies may be able to obtain in their local markets”.

Aspen Head of Technology Liability and Data Protection Indemnity Tom Allen says the Lloyd’s market has been at the forefront of innovation in insurance and reinsurance.

“The market has continued to play this role in addressing one of the fastest-growing risks of the 21st century: data breaches.”