Scor’s cyber presence ‘already matching risk appetite’

Scor’s relatively limited exposure to cyber, of around “a couple hundred million” euros, is about as much as the reinsurer is currently happy to write, according to Jean-Paul Conoscente, chief executive of Scor’s Global P&C business.

“I think the issue we have is we're reaching, even with our small penetration, a level of perceived risk that is our risk appetite,” Conoscente said.

He said the reinsurance industry as a whole was struggling to keep up with demand for coverage because of the vast scale of the potential losses.

“We're not sure that that's the worst case scenario that can happen because this risk is evolving, weekly, monthly, yearly,” Conoscente said, adding: “Cyber could be worse than we imagine”.

He added: “I think the key to developing this for us, and for the rest of the market, is really the ability to define what are the risk drivers for cyber and tapping additional capital that can help the whole industry develop this further.”

Scor has been investing heavily in tools to better understand the peril, Conoscente said, acknowledging the importance of remaining relevant to clients.