Global reinsurance broking and advisory firm Gallagher Re has observed that an oversupply of capacity resulted in a cyber aggregate excess of loss (XOL) risk-adjusted rate (RAR) change of -32% at 1.1.2026.
The data comes from the latest edition of the firm’s Cyber Rate Index, an updated version of the Cyber RAR Index launched in 2025, which tracks reinsurance pricing adjusted for expected shifts in underlying risk levels.
The index, which utilises Gallagher Re’s proprietary view of risk, specifically considers changes in pricing for cyber aggregate stop-loss and XOL contracts at 1.1.2026.
Gallagher Re explained that the reasons for this are that, since their introduction in 2015, aggregate stop-loss and XOL structures have become the preferred non-proportional solution for most cyber reinsurance buyers, and the aggregate market remains the best-capitalised segment of the non-proportional cyber reinsurance sector, showing the least variation in pricing across market participants and making it the most suitable basis for an industry-wide pricing index.
The firm continued that at 1.1.2026, buyers of cyber aggregate XOL reinsurances also benefited from improvements in structural terms as well as pricing.
“Many buyers saw reductions in attachment points at renewal, for example. This dynamic coincides with an expectation that underlying (primary) cyber rates are expected to continue to soften in 2026,” Gallagher Re said.
Ian Newman, Global Head of Cyber for Gallagher Re, commented, “Reinsurance buyers are constantly looking for suitable and effectively priced non-proportional cyber protection.
“Well-designed aggregate products provide the optimal solution for those cedants looking for asymmetric protection against either a highly adverse loss trend (such as that seen with the rise of ransomware 2018 — 2021), a frequency of event losses, and/or a single catastrophic or systemic event.
“Gallagher Re therefore believes that over the long-term, an index of the cyber aggregate XOL market will provide a useful and insightful barometer as to the state of the cyber reinsurance rating environment.”
