Chubb today announced that it is strengthening the cyber risk team serving its London wholesale and UK and Ireland retail clients, with the appointment of two dedicated underwriters. With cyber risk insurance demand expected to increase 150% by 2020¹, the appointments reflect the company's focus on further building its technical expertise and leadership position in this emerging risk class, to help meet client needs.

Lauren Webb, formerly Senior Professional Indemnity and Cyber Underwriter for Chubb, has been appointed to the role of Cyber Underwriting Manager, London Market. Lauren will be responsible for underwriting the US, UK and international risks placed via Lloyd's and London company market brokers into Chubb and the development of London broker relationships.

Lauren has eleven years of insurance industry experience. She joined Chubb four and a half years ago to develop the portfolio of professional indemnity and cyber placements, specifically in the London market. In her new role she will continue to be based in London, reporting to Grant Cairns, Financial Lines Manager for Chubb in the UK and Ireland, and Trevor Ormes, Financial Lines Product Head, Chubb Global Markets.

Chris McMurray, formerly Senior Financial Lines Underwriter, Scotland at Chubb, has been appointed to the new role of Senior Cyber Underwriter, UK and Ireland regions, responsible for the underwriting and profitable growth of Chubb's regional cyber portfolio outside London.

Chris has twelve years of insurance industry experience. In his previous role, he was responsible for the profitable growth of the company's financial lines business in Scotland and contributed to the development of its regional cyber portfolio in the UK and Ireland. Previously, he has held underwriting positions at Hiscox and QBE. In his new role, Chris will continue to be based in Glasgow, reporting to Tim Jones, PI and Cyber Manager for Chubb in the UK and Ireland.

The expanded team will also benefit from the support of Nick Bellamy, Senior Info Tech Specialist, UK and Ireland, whose role has been expanded to provide cyber risk engineering support to Chubb's London and regional UK and Ireland clients, including full on-site survey capability to help them evaluate their cyber-related activities, exposures and controls. Nick will continue to be based in London, and will report to Tom Newark, Property and Casualty Risk Engineering Services Manager, UK and Ireland.

The appointments represent the latest phase of the company's investment in Europe and follow the recent launch of Cyber Enterprise Risk Management, an end-to-end risk management solution for clients; a new cyber incident response partnership with Crawford & Company; and a Global Cyber Facility that provides up to US$100 million of primary capacity for larger companies.

David Robinson, Executive Vice President, Europe and President, UK and Ireland at Chubb, said:

"In our 2015 Emerging Risk Barometer², technology risk topped UK risk managers' list of emerging risks, which is no surprise as almost two thirds of large UK businesses and half of middle-sized ones have experience at least one cyber incident in the past year³.

"The appointment of Lauren and Chris, two underwriting experts in their field, highlights our commitment to providing our UK and Ireland-based clients with superior underwriting solutions and easy access to decision-makers. Supported by our risk engineering capabilities and end-to-end risk management solutions, I am confident their skills and experience will ensure we offer an exceptional service as we take our cyber risk proposition into its next phase."

Matthew Shaw, Executive Vice President, Europe and President, Chubb Global Markets, said:

"The cyber insurance market is rapidly evolving and London's role as an international centre of excellence is growing.

"With Lauren's appointment and the creation of a dedicated London market underwriting role, we look forward to further building our London cyber market presence and assisting our broker partners to provide tailored and comprehensive solutions for their international clients."