Amid rapid changes in technology—and the cyber threats that come with them—the insurance company Chubb has come out with a new bond to cover asset managers that have been victims of digital attacks or scams compromising client assets.
Chubb, a global property and casualty insurance company, on Tuesday unveiled the Financial Institution Bond for Asset Managers, developed to protect investment firms from a loss of their capital or their clients’ capital to the fraudulent activities of employees; to computer hacking; or to identity theft involving the impersonation of executives, clients and counterparties.
Asset managers will have at least $145 trillion in assets under management by 2025, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report. The new Chubb bond is aimed at protecting managers from a loss of any of that capital stemming from tech vulnerabilities.
Since 2016, financial institutions in the United States have lost approximately $9 billion to fraudulent business e-mail schemes alone, according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
The bond will protect asset managers from financial loss resulting from unauthorized access to their firms’ computer systems by hackers, through the use of malware and viruses for example, or from unauthorized access to firm networks, including mobile applications and customer web portals.
The bond will also protect managers from the transfer of a firm's capital or its customers' capital through fraudulent instructions given over the internet, e-mail or telephone, or by someone impersonating an employee or known vendor prompting a firm's funds to be fraudulently transferred by an authorized employee.
"The asset management industry is growing at a rapid pace, and safeguarding customer capital is top of mind for asset managers," said Michael Mollica, executive vice president at Chubb North America Financial Lines. "Given today's digital environment, it has never been more critical for asset management firms to ensure they have the right coverage in place to address a range of new risks."