A U.S.-focused Cyber Industry Loss Index has been launched by Zurich-based Perils and CyberAcuView, an independent U.S.-based organization formed by leading cyber insurers, to keep capital flowing in the cyber insurance market.

The Cyber Industry Loss Index reports affirmative U.S. primary cyber market losses resulting from systemic cyber incidents which affect more than one insurer and more than one policyholder. The reporting includes all events exceeding a $500 million industry loss.

The cyber industry losses are based upon loss data collected from U.S. cyber insurers. Data collection and aggregation is carried out by CyberAcuView with subsequent industry-level calculations jointly signed-off by CyberAcuView and Perils, an independent organization that provides catastrophe insurance data. The initial industry loss estimate and subsequent quarterly loss updates will be made available to subscribers of the newly developed Perils Cyber Portal.

Loss estimates are released at the latest six months after the event end date, and are updated quarterly up to a maximum of three years after the event end date.

The loss data are available for licensing for use in industry-loss-based risk transfer products such as insurance-linked securities (ILS) and industry loss warranty contracts (ILW). Perils acts as the industry loss reporting agency for ILS and ILW transactions, and the index “will help accelerate the growth of the cyber-ILS and ILW markets,” said Mark Camillo, CEO of CyberAcuView, in a statement.

Moreover, the loss database will support the further development of cyber risk models over time.

“Increasing the availability of cyber loss data is critical to the ongoing development of the cyber insurance market,” said Luzi Hitz, CEO of Perils. “Whilst the cyber market is expected to grow substantially, the potential for systemic loss events will grow in tandem. Access to loss data will become increasingly important to support sustainable capacity for the U.S. cyber market.”

“This is an important initiative that will help increase the flow of capital into the cyber insurance market, and help insurers provide cyber coverage to a growing number of policyholders,” added Camillo.