Regional insurance brokerage firm Caribbean Assurance Brokers Limited (CAB) at the end of its third quarter ended September saw expenses increase above 12 per cent as the company ramped up its cybersecurity initiatives.

“While revenues grew, profitability increased by less than one per cent quarter over quarter mainly due to the continued execution on our strategic goals of investing in digitisation and data protection/cybersecurity which was the main contributor to increased expenses.

“The areas that contributed to the increase in total expenses included software and licensing fees as we revamp our approach towards cybersecurity as well as staff welfare and agents commission expenses,” commented Chief Executive Officer Tania Waldron-Gooden in the company’s recently released unaudited interim report to shareholders.

Cybersecurity, which has become a hot topic issue for companies in the wake of more attacks and breaches, is expected to cost the world approximately US$10.5 trillion by 2025, according to estimates from cybersecurity research firm Cyber Ventures. As a result, businesses in recent times have had to spend more as they beef up security in order to safeguard their systems from a wave of malware and ransomware attacks.

CAB, which since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic has been pumping more funds to secure new software and to build out greater online services, at the end of the three-month period incurred operating expenses of $136.3 million, driven largely by cybersecurity provisions and representing an increase of $14.8 million or 12 per cent more than that spent for the same quarter of last year.

The brokerage company at the end of the quarter returning marginal net profit of $100.4 million up from $100.3 million in the previous year also saw positive revenue outflows which amounted to $237.5 million. For the year-to-date or nine-month performance this translated into revenues of $432 million followed by profits of $104.9 million.

Steadily progressing on its path to recovery after incurring losses since the pandemic, CAB further expects earnings to stabilise as it adjusts focus and deliver on more strategic objectives moving closer to the end of the financial year. Total assets up to the end of the period stood at $1.2 billion.

“While we now shift our focus to the last quarter of the year, it becomes integral that we focus on new customer acquisition given the changing economic and socio-economic conditions the country currently experiences. We remain steadfast on our strategic plans to improve and add to our product/service offerings which will consequently improve our customer satisfaction index,” Waldron-Gooden said of the outlook.