Bermudian-based Mosaic Insurance has partnered with hybrid fronting carrier Transverse Insurance Group to activate $20 million in cybersecurity capacity in the US market.

The global specialty insurer said the strategic partnership marked an expansion of Mosaic’s syndicated programme, which invited capital from commercial carriers to leverage its class-leading teams that underwrite complex specialty risks for clients in regional markets throughout the world.

The initiative, brokered by Acrisure and based on London’s subscription market, matches Mosaic’s proprietary capital through its Lloyd’s Syndicate 1609 with trade-partner capacity for commercial clients at a time of rapidly increasing demand.

“We’re thrilled to work with Transverse as a fronting partner to facilitate US-market access to those participating in our syndicated capital business,” said Mosaic’s Chris Brown, EVP, syndicated capital management.

“The distribution advantage allows our leading cyber team to deploy additional stable, syndicated capacity at a time of critical need. The arrangement also epitomises our objective of connecting capital directly with designated exposures in specific territories. By doing so, we construct optimally customised portfolios of risk for our capital partners.”

The company said cybersecurity was a core area of expertise for Mosaic and one of several specialty products that embodied a high technical barrier to entry. The insurer said it was developing market-leading aggregation studies, risk-assessment, loss-prevention and response capabilities to ensure its underwriting product was informed by advanced data analysis and objective differentiation in client selection.

“We look forward to partnering with Mosaic for this US-syndicated cyber capacity programme,” said Erik Matson, chairman, CEO and co-founder of Transverse, launched in 2018 with offices in New York, New Jersey and Texas to serve the programme, MGA, and reinsurance markets.

He added: “Mosaic has a proven track record in the specialty underwriting space, and its team brings deep knowledge to this programme. With the need for cybersecurity at an all-time high, we believe this partnership adds value to the market.”

Mosaic said rising demand for coverage was being driven by increasing threats from cyber warfare, data breaches, ransomware, and other attacks on systems and software.

“Through the cyber lens, a lot of companies are becoming more circumspect around exposure and are moving more carefully,” noted Yosha DeLong, Mosaic’s global head of cyber, who runs a team of eight cyber specialists based in the US, UK and Bermuda. “We’ve got market-leading talent, we’re growing, and we’re looking for opportunities.”

Backed by the long-term vision of Golden Gate Capital and the ratings and licences of Lloyd’s, Mosaic said, it focused on highly technical business lines, including transactional liability, cybersecurity, political risk, political violence, financial institutions, and professional liability. Trade capital partners can choose a whole-portfolio approach, or specific products and geographies. The programme does not participate on natural-catastrophe exposures, allowing partners to diversify away from those risks.

Mosaic’s joint venture with DXC Technology will also enable access by syndicated risk partners to an insurtech platform offering real-time data and distribution of underwriting metrics, along with claims and market data and analytics.