How QBE's global cyber proposition is constantly evolving to support brokers and customers

Since launching our global cyber product – QCyberProtect – in July 2024, QBE has built more than just a consistent global offering. We’ve cultivated a connected, insight-driven ecosystem of cyber experts that enable us to evolve with the rapidly changing cyber market and threat landscape.

One year on, QBE’s cyber leaders reflect on the improvements, achievements and investments that have strengthened our insurance offering for our broker partners and customers across the globe. 

Late 2024 was a period of significant investment in QBE’s cyber expertise, with the appointment of Desiree Spain into a newly created position of Global Head of Cyber Underwriting Management. QBE’s cyber underwriting teams have continued to expand since this time, enhancing our ability to assess risk and deliver market-aligned pricing and product wording.

“As we enter the second year of delivering our globally consistent cyber offering, we’ve continued to adjust our appetite and pricing to align with the feedback of our valued broker partners and customers across the globe,” Ms Spain said. 

Local Cyber Underwriting Lead for QBE Australia, Ben Richardson, emphasises the benefits of having access to a close-knit community of underwriting experts.

“Our underwriting team brings together leaders from the North America, Asia, Europe and Australia. Collaborating and sharing insights has helped fast-track our cyber product into the Australian market,” Mr Richardson said.

“It’s exciting to be part of a passionate community of people who share the same focus on delivering the best possible product for our brokers and customers. The insights we share globally help us respond faster and more effectively to emerging cyber risks.”

QBE also introduced the role of Global Head of Cyber Services in late 2024, appointing Dominic Keller to lead a team dedicated to cyber resilience. This growing team now provides global threat intelligence insights, risk mitigation solutions, and a range of proactive risk services for QBE customers.  

“Our threat intelligence specialists monitor cyber risks across the globe, providing valuable insights not just to our underwriters, but directly to QBE policyholders and broker partners,” Mr Keller said.  

“Together we’ve uplifted our cyber offering to include tabletop exercises – which are simulated cyber breaches aimed at helping customers prepare for the realities of a cyber breach.

“We also provide customers sample incident response plans, incident management documents, and access to preferred vendors that offer cost-effective threat management services.”

QBE continues to embrace technology to streamline operations. Our Cyber Underwriting AI Assistant, initially launched in our North America division, has now been rolled out across Europe and Asia. This tool accelerates the review of broker submissions, providing underwriters with more space to focus on risk selection and service delivery.

Looking to the future, we’re committed to making our comprehensive cyber offering available to more customers, with launch in the New Zealand market expected in late 2025.

“We’ve been busy preparing for our launch in New Zealand and have recently appointed a locally-based Cyber Product Lead to support the roll-out,” Serene Davis, Global Head of Cyber for QBE said.

“It’s an exciting next step for our growing cyber team, and we’re looking forward to bringing the best of our global experience to brokers and businesses in the region.”

For more information about QBE’s Cyber Insurance offering, visit: www.qbe.com/au/business-insurance/cyber