Field notes
Cyber: falling rates reopen the conversation with your SMEs
· By Diane du Paty, CEO & co-founder · 1 min read
In 2026, cyber rates could fall by up to 20% in France. Your SME clients still refuse to buy, and the real obstacle was never the price. The three obstacles seen in the field, and what this softening changes for your firm.
In 2026, cyber rates are falling in France. Your SME clients still refuse to buy. The real obstacle is not the price.
For three years, I have heard the same thing from property and casualty brokers: impossible to get SMEs to buy cyber insurance. Too expensive, too complicated to explain, too abstract.
The market is changing
New capacity is entering the French market, competition is intensifying, and according to WTW’s market outlook, cyber rates could fall by up to 20% this year. It is the first significant softening after years of a hard market on this line. A real commercial opening. But price was never the only obstacle.
The three real obstacles
What I see in the field is that cyber stumbles on three very concrete points for SMEs.
The underwriting questionnaire. Answering thirty technical questions about the state of the IT estate is a real barrier for an owner with no IT manager. Many give up before they even see the price.
Product education. The difference between an incident cover and a business-interruption cover remains opaque to many business owners. Without a clear explanation, the value does not land.
The abstraction of the risk. Cyber losses stay theoretical until the day the business next door is locked out for a week.
What the softening opens
It reopens the conversation. It gives you a commercial hook you have not had for a long time. It is the moment to go back to the clients who turned down a quote two years ago, and to pick up the quotes that stalled on budget.
Education is still your job. But the market is finally on your side.
