Since the outbreak of the financial tensions, this Group has solidly worked to gather and share information on developments in the euro area money market and has also provided us with useful feedback on the effect of the ECB’s money market operations. Statistical information. The ECB has also benefited from the wealth of harmonised area-wide financial, banking and monetary statistics that the Eurosystem has developed over the last decade as well as from the recently released quarterly integrated accounts. In addition, very useful information has been collected through surveys (notably, the Bank Lending Survey). Information exchanges with other central banks. During the current turmoil information has been extensively shared and discussed within the central banking community on a wide range of issues, from very technical and operational to more policy-relevant considerations. Especially at the onset of the tensions, the consultations among the relevant central banks were very intense and particularly useful to assess the extent of the turmoil accurately and rapidly. Information exchanges among European authorities. During a market turbulence like the one we have recently witnessed, it is crucial to assess in a timely and comprehensive fashion the implications of the turmoil for the banking and financial industry and, ultimately, for the economy as a whole. In this context, it is important to ensure that the responsible public authorities, notably central banks and supervisors, have the adequate procedures and infrastructure in place to share the relevant information among them.

In general insurance, we are currently running a stress test designed to identify concentrations of exposure to a number of possible natural and man-made catastrophes. Perhaps more worrying is the potential for hidden concentrations. More than 25 years after asbestos-related claims contributed to the near collapse of the Lloyd’s of London market, insurers continue to face related losses. 5 6  http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/pra/Documents/solvency2/matchingadjustmentletteroct2014.pdf http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/pra/Pages/publications/ss/2017/ss317.aspx 6  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  6  7  A peril with potential for hidden exposures is cyber . Sizing cyber exposures across the industry is therefore difficult. But it is clear that the risk is growing. To give one estimate, the Lloyd’s Business Blackout scenario – analysing the implications of a cyber attack on the US power grid – puts global insurance losses to $  Yesterday we published a supervisory statement setting out our expectations for the prudent management of 8  cyber underwriting risks . It distinguishes affirmative from non-affirmative or ‘silent’ exposures, where the insurer has not explicitly included (or excluded) cover. We expect insurers to take steps to bring non-affirmative exposures within risk appetites agreed by their boards. Possible ways of achieving this include: introducing robust wording exclusions, offering explicit cover with additional premium and attaching specific limits to cover. Finally, we have also been considering how we might respond to a large loss affecting many insurers that could change market conditions. We have worked closely with the industry and Lloyd’s over the past few months following our consultation last year.