Gallagher Re has launched a new Digital Risk Practice aimed at helping insurers and reinsurers assess the growing exposure created by artificial intelligence, data centres, cyber threats and broader digital dependency.
Ian Newman will lead the practice as Global Head of Digital Risk while retaining his existing role as Global Head of Cyber. Freddie Scarratt has been appointed AI Liability Lead alongside his role as Global Deputy Head of InsurTech, while Luca Drane will serve as Data Centers Lead.
The new practice brings together Gallagher Re’s existing cyber capabilities with specialist expertise in emerging technology risks. The broker said the initiative is designed to help clients understand, quantify and manage technology-related exposures across insurance portfolios.
Digital risk moves beyond cyber
Gallagher Re said the practice reflects a shift in how technology risk is affecting the insurance market. AI and digital dependency are no longer confined to standalone cyber policies, with technology exposures increasingly affecting property, casualty and specialty business.
Data centres provide one example of the potential accumulation. A disruption at shared digital infrastructure can affect multiple businesses simultaneously, creating correlated losses across portfolios and lines of business.
AI creates a similar challenge as insurers begin to consider liability arising from AI systems, alongside the wider operational and business risks associated with their adoption.
The new practice will work across Gallagher Re’s Global Products & Practices platform, giving the broker a dedicated structure for analysing these exposures and their potential accumulation.
Focus on accumulation and reinsurance
Newman said clients are increasingly seeking advice on AI and digital dependency beyond traditional cyber risk.
The practice will therefore focus not only on identifying individual exposures but also on understanding how technology risks can accumulate across portfolios and potentially create large correlated losses.
Gallagher Re said its specialists will help clients translate complex technology exposures into underwriting, accumulation and capital insights, with the aim of supporting more informed reinsurance decisions.
The move also positions the broker to advise insurers as emerging technology risks begin to influence capacity requirements and portfolio management.
“By bringing our expertise together under a dedicated Digital Risk Practice, we can provide a single source of insight to help clients understand emerging exposures, manage accumulation, and identify effective reinsurance solutions,” Newman said.
The launch comes as insurers increasingly look beyond cyber coverage to assess the wider insurance implications of rapidly expanding digital infrastructure and AI adoption.
