Catharina Richter to lead Allianz Cyber Center of Competence

• Group-wide Cyber Center of Competence is embedded into Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) with a reporting line to AGCS Chief Underwriting Officer Corporate Thomas Sepp
• Catharina Richter joins from Allianz SE where she is currently Head of Digital Regulation
• AGCS’s global cyber insurance team will work closely with Cyber Center of Competence to further evolve cyber risk underwriting and governance

Johannesburg/London/Munich/New York/Paris/Sao Paulo/Singapore – Effective June 1 2020, Dr Catharina Richter will be appointed Global Head of Cyber Center of Competence for Allianz Group. The Cyber Center of Competence (CoC) coordinates and steers cyber risk underwriting and governance across Allianz Group and is embedded into Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS), the corporate insurance specialist of Allianz Group and long-standing provider of IT and cyber insurance solutions to businesses. Catharina Richter will report directly to AGCS Chief Underwriting Officer Corporate and Board Member Thomas Sepp.

Dr Richter joins from Allianz SE, where she is currently Head of Digital Regulation, responsible for developing regulatory strategy for digitalization on behalf of Allianz Group and shaping the regulatory and supervisory debate in the field of cyber. A lawyer by training, she joined Mondial Assistance (now Allianz Partners) in 2000 as General Counsel, and since that time has been Head of Distribution & Solutions Legal Europe for Allianz Global Investors and Head of Regulatory Management for Allianz SE. In her new role as Global Head of the Cyber Center of Competence, Dr Richter succeeds Emy Donovan who had left AGCS last year.

The Allianz Cyber CoC was established in 2018 and focuses on Group-wide coordination and alignment of cyber exposures and insurance in the commercial insurance segment. Recent focus areas include the development of a new underwriting approach to clarify cyber exposures (‘silent cyber’) across commercial P&C policies, product governance and harmonization through a cyber-master wording and the establishment of a global service provider network for Allianz cyber policyholders.

AGCS Chief Underwriting Officer Corporate Thomas Sepp commented: “Cyber is the top global business risk in the Allianz Risk Barometer 2020 and a significant opportunity for insurance, but at the same time it also requires central governance, steering and control to realize sustainable growth.

I am delighted that someone of Catharina’s background and ability will now take the Cyber Center of Competence to the next stage.’’

The existing AGCS standalone cyber insurance offering remains within the Financial Lines business line with overall responsibility of Shanil Williams, Global Head of Financial Lines, supported by Marek Stanislawski as Cyber Underwriting Manager.

The AGCS global Cyber team will work in full alignment and close cooperation with the Cyber CoC to further evolve Allianz Group’s cyber insurance offering which combines financial indemnification with prevention advisory and post-incident crisis management services.

AGCS launched a first standalone cyber insurance product in 2013 and has seen steady growth since then in all its key markets globally. In 2019, for the first time, AGCS exceeded the EUR 100 million gross premium written with cyber insurance solutions.