Tackle cyber risk now, and IoT next - Trevor Maynard

While cyber risk is the most pressing emerging threat, the interconnectivity of the Internet of Things (IoT) makes it a dangerous risk to watch, according to Lloyd’s head of innovation Trevor Maynard.

Speaking yesterday at Lloyd’s at an ‘Emerging Risk and Insurance Innovation’, Maynard touched on key emerging risks that will have important insurance consequences and outlined the need to tackle emerging risks in innovative ways, using techniques like counterfactual thinking.

When asked by Global Reinsurance whether a focus on cyber was enough to get a handle on broader emerging risk, Maynard explained: “It’s important to expand on cyber coverage because people are starting to acknowledge the cyber risks that they are facing, but it is important to look at other emerging risks as well.”

He added: “There is real insight to be garnered from exploring Internet of Things in terms of sensors and what that means for the rest of our book. There is potential for the sensor technology to shift our perspective on risk. I would say Internet of Things would be my next emerging technology risk to explore.”

Maynard explained that tackling these emerging risks was a pressing issue, as once they become more evident their impact would be profound, comparing the growth of these threats to the growth of bacteria in a petri dish.

The at-capacity event was held by the IIL and was chaired by LMA financial director Ken Curtis.