NAME: Catharina Richter
NEW JOB TITLE: Munich-based global head, Cyber Center of Competence, Allianz SE
PREVIOUS POSITION: Munich-based head of regulatory management, head of digital regulation, Allianz SE
INDUSTRY OUTLOOK: Cyber is the number one global business risk, according to the Allianz Risk Barometer 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the push toward digitalization in insurance and many other sectors. As a result, IT security vulnerabilities and cyber exposures for companies will also grow, as well as the demand for cyber risk management and insurance solutions. However, strong market competition, increasing regulatory scrutiny and the need to manage the impact of potential catastrophic cyber scenarios will challenge the future growth of cyber insurance.
GOALS FOR NEW POSITION: At Allianz, we have a great number of cyber experts and specialists across our organization. My vision is to establish the Cyber Center of Competence as the go-to, share and connect platform for all our colleagues worldwide to share best practices and optimize our market-facing offerings. At the same time, the center enables a strong engagement with external stakeholders to join forces in combating cyberattacks and improving cyber resilience of companies.
CHALLENGES FACING THE INDUSTRY: Cyber is a rapidly evolving risk and there are hardly any reliable actuarial or claims data. Therefore, modeling and pricing remains challenging. Even if any claims data does exist, it is obsolete within a few years as the nature of events and possible loss scenarios evolve quite rapidly. Data, technology and collaboration will be essential to close this gap. We use predictive risk modeling to identify cyber trends or understand how our portfolio would respond to a wide range of cyber incident scenarios. Allianz also supports industry efforts to establish an international cyber claims and incident database.
FIRST EXPERIENCE IN THE INDUSTRY JOB MARKET: My first touch point with cyber was several years ago in a negotiation training. The participants had to develop a response strategy for a cyberattack scenario under extreme pressure and senior leaders from military secret service and police were sharing some insights, including cyber warfare and cyber terrorism. It was a simulation only, but todays reality of many state-sponsored cyberattacks have confirmed such scenarios.
ADVICE: Invest time in listening and learning from experts. For cyber, this requires collecting not only the insurance value chain perspective but seeking a holistic approach, starting with IT security and risk analytics. Understand your customers needs and expectations and, importantly, the criminal, political, societal and global dimension of the cyber challenge.
OUTSIDE THE INDUSTRY, A DREAM JOB: Being a musician and playing my transverse flute in chamber and symphonic orchestra.
COLLEGE MAJOR: I am a lawyer by training (bar exam) and wrote my Ph.D. thesis in criminal law not with focus on cyber but on the fundamental dogmatic of criminal law.
LOOKING FORWARD TO: Being at the forefront to enable innovation and digitization to flourish, while improving cyber resilience and combating cyber crime as effectively as possible.
FAVOURITE MEAL: Anything my husband has ever cooked for me, whether it is basic pasta or menus with several courses. He enjoys going to the market and preparing elaborate meals for family and friends with organic vegetables and assorted meat.
BOOK: I am a passionate reader of young German writers, who may not yet be famous globally. One of them is Juli Zeh. In her recent novel Cold Hearts, she creates a dystopia on people who use AI-based analytics on social media and psychological tests to identify and manipulate characters for terror attacks aiming to provoke engagement for democracy and civil rights. However, manipulation may turn against the creator.
HOBBIES: I enjoy spending time with my husband and our six grown-up children. I also enjoy reading, gardening, playing chamber music and walking tours.
TV SHOW: We have a home cinema in our basement and love seeing arthouse/classical movies. We have quite a collection of films since the 1930s. I am a big fan of filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, but our collection also includes blockbusters like James Bond movies.
ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON: Gardening, walking tours and preparation for family and friends gatherings on Sunday.
