The post Cybercrime, renewable energy top the agenda as insurer predicts a year of rising threats for 2026 appeared first on InsuranceAsia News.

In an interview with InsuranceAsia News, Schappell said that the specialty insurer expects “more of the same” in the upcoming 1.1 renewals compared to January 1, 2025.

“From a catastrophe perspective, worldwide it has been a relatively benign year,” said Schappell. “Asia has had its fair share of cats including earthquakes, typhoons, and there has been some civil unrest in there too.

“We probably won’t see the market dynamics change much from what we’re currently seeing now in terms of an influx of capacity,” added Schappell. “There is a lot of choice for clients when they’re looking at who to place their insurance with.”

Over the last three years, Beazley has invested heavily in growing its specialty offering, particularly cyber insurance, which has been a critical source of premium growth for the Lloyd’s insurer.

In the first half of 2025, Beazley wrote US$544.3 million of cyber premiums globally, equivalent to around 17.1% of its US$3.18 billion of premium, and the third largest source after property and MAP risks.

The division is also one of the insurer’s most profitable, with a combined ratio of 68.9% the first half, compared to 78.7% for property risks, 88% for specialty, 62.5% for MAP risks, and 70.9% for digital risks, according to Beazley’s annual results.

Cyber underwriting was a key component of Beazley’s record underwriting result in 2024, with cyber making up US$1.27 billion of Beazley’s US$6.16 billion premium last year.

Beazley sees a large structural growth opportunity for its cyber business in APAC, which is an underpenetrated region for the product, with recent large scale cyber attacks on corporates such as Jaguar Land Rover in the UK and Asahi in Japan driving awareness of the escalating risks corporates face from cyber threat actors.

“Asia Pacific plays an important role in our growth strategy,” said Schappell.

“Next year is our twentieth anniversary in Asia and we have certainly seen an evolution of the business over the last nineteen years where we were predominantly construction, property, marine and a little bit of PI. Over the past six to eight years, we have made a lot of effort to bring our specialist products into the region.

“Cyber of course is one of our largest pillars, and that is no different here in Asia, representing a quarter of our business in the region,” added Schappell. “There is a lot of penetration to go which is creating opportunities for specialists in this asset class.”

The volume and sophistication of cyber attacks in APAC are growing, fuelled by the rollout of AI technologies. According to Beazley’s recent Risk and Resilience report, 26% of surveyed executives in Singapore cited cyber risk as their greatest threat in 2025, up from 24% in 2024.

“It is no surprise that cyber risks have been one of the top concerns since 2022, and that is showing no signs of abating heading into 2026,” said Schappell.

Many jurisdictions in APAC have recently strengthened or enacted new cyber security laws, including Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong, which is increasing the need for corporates to insure themselves against cyber breaches.

“Our main message ahead of SIRC is that while there are challenges in the region, we see huge opportunity for growth in APAC across our cross class, specialist solutions,” said Schappell.

“As regulations become more mature and as incidents become more public, potential clients will see the value of cyber insurance.”

The post Upcoming 1.1 in APAC will see ‘more of the same’: Beazley  appeared first on InsuranceAsia News.

The post High-profile breaches propel cyber insurance adoption in APAC: Beazley appeared first on InsuranceAsia News.

The post Beazley ropes in Estee Chong as financial institutions product specialist for Asia appeared first on InsuranceAsia News.

The post Beazley strengthens APAC team with double promotion appeared first on InsuranceAsia News.

Schappell took over the role on August 1 but has been with Beazley’s Singapore Office for almost six years now, leading the carrier’s international financial lines and cyber claims team.

She highlighted the strong foundation she inherited: “I took over a very well-oiled machine in the region. My predecessor did a very nice job in building the team out, both [in terms of] people and products, and expanding that over the last five-six years.”

Beazley will be focusing on growing its property footprint in the region further after having made three hires this year, according to Schappell. This path is also aligned with the carrier’s regional strategy.

“We feel that we have a lot of experts across the globe within Beazley in the property space to do that in a strong way,” she said.

Cyber will also be an important cornerstone in the carrier’s growth strategy in APAC.

“From cyber perspective, we have a lot of large clients who are buying. Cyber insurance demand is expected to be US$40 billion by 2030. We want to be at the forefront of that growth,” Schappell said.

Beazley will be focusing on growth next year and looking to fill the market with products that may be missing from the region.

“We’ve seen some softening in financial lines last year, but we’re developing new products and looking for profitable growth,” she said.

The new products will combine tech and financial lines, such as Full Spectrum Cyber as there is more demand expected among SMEs. The most recent example is Cyber Flex, launched globally, that combines liability, crime, and cyber for financial institution clients.

“Initially, we’re looking at deeper relationships and penetration, especially as a specialist insurer. That’s where we can really shine and add our value because we are experts in those various lines of business.” Jessica Schappell, Beazley

In terms of regional expansion, Schappell is looking at further market penetration in the core regional markets for each of the specialty carrier’s lines of business.

Now Beazley operates on a hub model with office in Singapore that services the Asia Pacific market with no plans to grow office-wise.

Singapore and Hong Kong are Beazley’s core markets where it writes direct insurance.

“Initially, we’re looking at deeper relationships and penetration, especially as a specialist insurer. That’s where we can really shine and add our value because we are experts in those various lines of business,” Schappell said.

She emphasised the importance of understanding the regional markets and building strong relationships with clients.

“Clients are asking more and more to meet their claims manager before something happens, which we always welcome. It’s an opportunity to build a rapport and enhance our knowledge before clients face any hardships down the line,” she said.

The importance of understanding risks and underwriting expertise is also becoming more and more important, Schappell noted.

“Globally, we have grown and put a lot of resources into growing our property book, and that’s similar here. It goes back to really understanding the risks and being able to use the underwriting expertise to make a judgment call,” she said.

Talent remains a notable challenge for the carrier as “the market is small and finding the right person can sometimes be difficult.”

“We’ve been very fortunate in building a strong team across all our lines of business here in the region,” Schappell said.

The post Cyber, property cornerstones in Beazley’s APAC growth strategy appeared first on InsuranceAsia News.

Across the Asia Pacific region, cyber preparedness is fragmented, from the maturity levels of the cyber market to the overall perception of the cyber risk, according to Teck Siong Ng, underwriter, cyber risks Asia at Beazley.

However, there is a shift in the mid-market, with the development of stringent privacy laws and cybersecurity regulations which is gradually reshaping many organisations’ relationships with cyber insurance in markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia.

There is certainly increased risk appetite in Asia Pacific, which is indicative of the growing maturity of the cyber market and the industry’s confidence in the risk level, Ng said.

“The market will find its equilibrium in the long term and there will likely be a short-term softening of rates,” he said.

“The threats like ransomware and AI-enhanced attacks continue to disproportionately affect organisations that have not adequately invested in cyber security measures,” Ng said.

“While it may be perceived that some industries or business sizes are more exposed to this threat than others, the trend suggests that cybercriminals are targeting those companies which they consider ‘low-hanging fruit’, those with minimal security controls,” he explained.

“Risk selection will be a key component in profitability. More mature organisations recognise that the cyber landscape is dynamic and are therefore not always looking for the lowest rates for cyber solutions. They want a full spectrum offering with a dedicated resource on the ground in the region,” he added.

Overall, while companies may excel in prevention and detection, their incident response strategies often lack robustness.

“This shortfall can lead to amplified losses, encompassing data restoration and business infrastructure recovery, not to mention the reputational damage that can ensue. It’s clear that while cyber hygiene is improving, there is a pressing need for investment in incident response capabilities as this is just as critical as the preventative measures in place,” Ng said.

“We are seeing a shift in the mid-market, with the development of stringent privacy laws and cybersecurity regulations which is gradually reshaping many organisations’ relationships with cyber insurance in markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia.” Teck Siong Ng, Beazley

There is a need for the industry to respond to the accumulation risks and prepare for systemic events like cyber war or outage of critical infrastructure.

Ng explained: “We are living in a world of accelerating cyber threats. While we don’t need to be fearful of this, we must be prepared, evolving our approach and offering and keeping clients ahead of the game.”

A comprehensive cyber proposition is a way to address loss prevention and provide ease of access to cybersecurity experts, and a holistic, full-spectrum strategy can help ensure that clients have a robust ecosystem of cybersecurity that pre-empts emerging cyber threats, responds to them and adapts to new risks in real-time, according to Ng.

The rise of generative AI is a key risk consideration for insurers as it is increasingly used for launching sophisticated cyber-attacks.

Another important challenge for clients in Asia is cyber risk quantification, which is often hindered by a lack of structured frameworks.

“This is an area where harnessing global expertise and working closely with the growing cyber broking community in the region comes in, providing invaluable insights, helping to bridge the gap in risk perception and insurance buying behaviour that currently exists between Asia and more mature markets,” Ng said.

The post APAC cyber will find equilibrium long term but short-term softening of rates likely appeared first on InsuranceAsia News.

The post Beazley promotes claims lead Jessica Schappell as head of Asia Pacific appeared first on InsuranceAsia News.

The post Beazley promotes APAC head Lucien Mounier as Europe cyber risks leader appeared first on InsuranceAsia News.

The post New UN-led climate forum launches with IAG, Singapore insurers as founding participants appeared first on InsuranceAsia News.