Cloud Outage is the next risk class primed for ILS risk transfer

February 16, 2023

Parametrix, the leading provider of cloud downtime insurance, is working to bring to market Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS) transactions which would protect ceding re/insurers against a major sustained outage of “the cloud,” to which many re/insurers are exposed through their cyber portfolios.

A “Cloud-in-a-Box” transaction would employ a concrete, predetermined, and easily observed parametric trigger to transfer the outage of specific cloud service or groups of services (such as storage) provided by a specific vendor (such as Amazon Web Services) in a pre-defined cloud service region, according to Cloud-in-a-Box: Securitizing Cloud Outage Risk, a new white paper published today by Parametrix.

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Revolutionizing the way (re)insurance risk is transferred

“Significant accumulation of cloud outage risk is already on the books of many insurers and reinsurers. cyber insurance would become a much more attractive class of business if this potentially catastrophic accumulation risk were better managed,” said Yonatan Hatzor, co-founder and CEO of Parametrix. “We can do that through ILS structures.”

Dr. Rom Aviv of RHA Advisory, a senior advisor to Parametrix, said: “The structure will follow either the cloud downtime exposures within cedants’ underlying portfolios, or will refer to a peak-risk region which could lead to a significant loss. Correlation between cloud outages and the broader economy is low, so cloud downtime risk is potentially diversifying for investors. It features a well-defined trigger mechanism, short-tail, and a very limited risk of trapped capital or loss inflation.”

The global cloud computing market, defined by the amount spent on public cloud-based services, was an estimated $545.8 billion in 2022, according to one study, which projects growth to $1,240.9 billion by 2027. According to another, more than 90% of organizations use the cloud. “All indications show that this risk is not going to disappear. On the contrary. As such, we see the development of these ILS instruments as a vital element to support this growth,” concluded Hatzor.

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Download ILS: Cloud-in-a-Box White Paper.

About Parametrix

Parametrix is the leading provider of digital infrastructure insurance, protecting organizations against downtime across cloud, AI, SaaS and data center ecosystems. Leveraging a proprietary network of monitoring systems, they collect and analyze billions of data points on the performance and availability of critical infrastructure, enabling real-time underwriting and claims automation. Parametrix’s solutions help businesses, data center stakeholders, and (re)insurers to quantify, manage, and transfer the financial risks of downtime with unmatched precision. The company is a Managing General Agent and Lloyd’s Coverholder, with policies backed by major A-rated global insurers, and is headquartered in New York.

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