Africa Specialty Risks (ASR) has entered into the cyber insurance market for African businesses with the introduction of a digital quote-and-bind policy. 

The new product is designed to offer coverage to companies across the continent, beginning in South Africa, Namibia and Mauritius. 

The cyber policy is available through ASR 24-7, an automated underwriting platform, and provides coverage limits of up to $5m for businesses with annual revenues as high as $100m.  

The initiative addresses the availability of cyber insurance in Africa and aims to improve access to risk protection using its distribution channels.  

The coverage is supported by Lloyd’s AA-rated security.  

ASR 24-7 enables authorised brokers to digitally generate quotes and bind policies, removing the requirement for manual underwriter involvement.  

Additionally, ASR’s cyber policy includes access to support services such as incident response, threat intelligence and security reporting.  

ASR CEO Mikir Shah said: “There is a pressing need for cyber insurance across the African continent, which remains woefully under-served despite facing an active cyber threat landscape similar to that of developed markets. 

“ASR is meeting this need by offering a Lloyd’s cyber insurance solution for African businesses. This new product is backed by a panel of leading vendor partners who can assist companies both in preparation for, and in response to, any cyber incident.

“We look forward to rolling out cyber coverage across the whole continent in the coming months via our ASR 24-7 platform.” 

Last month, ASR introduced Syndicate 2454 in South Africa, based in Sandton.  

Underwriters from this unit will work with both insurance and reinsurance across South Africa and neighbouring countries, concentrating on specialty insurance classes.