NUA Insurance Agents & Brokers is looking to target up to 3,000 clients following the launch of its cyber liability insurance coverage–a product that offers businesses protection from cyber attacks and other online exposures, such as e-theft.

The company, which is the first to launch this type of coverage in The Bahamas, held its launch at the British Colonial Hilton Hotel recently where a cross section of the business and insurance community got an opportunity to learn more about the product.

NUA assistant managing director Stanford Charlton said that his company had been closely monitoring similar hacking and cyber attacks that are happening internationally and felt it was time to introduce the product to the Bahamian market.

Charlton indicated that if a company’s IT system is breached and its clients’ personal information is accessed, it may face stiff fines or penalties under the Data Protection Act, in instances where adequate safeguards were not in place to prevent the breach. Cyber liability insurance gives cover for these fines.

Charlton explained that NUA’s staff underwent extensive training over several weeks to become familiar with the product.

NUA later invited Charles Juarbe, divisional director of global insurance broker, FINEX Global & Willis Ltd to discuss the coverage during the launch.

Rolle indicated that there have been a number of sessions with Willis, including a recent online webinar, to acclimate staff to the new product. He said he is confident that NUA is ready for a successful launch of this product.

Juarbe said his company decided to partner with NUA because the company has a “strong presence” in The Bahamas.

“They know their clientele; they know what they’re looking for in terms of boots on the ground; and they’re going to know what their clients are looking for. At Willis, we’re very proud to have partnered with NUA in getting this facility done because people do need the protection.”

Juarbe advised companies that are dealing with customers’ sensitive data to be careful when selecting outside vendors.

Juarbe also noted that there is a minimum and maximum revenue requirement when it comes to securing cyber liability insurance with NUA.

“So, if your company is making $200 million in gross revenues and more than $30 million in net profit, obviously you’d be too big for the facility. But, that doesn’t mean that you can’t get coverage. What we could do is go to open market, access other markets to get quotations for you,” he said.

“To be excluded from the cyber facility there’d have to be a risk that we’d have to say is beyond the regular small medium enterprise risk. There are some classes of business that will fall out obviously because of the higher risk that they have, such as financial institutions or hospitals or technology companies. But, does that mean that we can’t get them coverage, absolutely not. We can get them coverage and we can get them whatever limit that they’re looking for. ”

According to Mr. Charlton, the cost of the cover is dependent on the type of business, its annual turnover and the number of employees it has.

Coverage ranges from $250,000 up to $2 million.