MUNICH (Reuters) - Europe's biggest insurance firm Allianz is expecting to benefit on growing company demand for insurance against pc hacking and web breakdowns, it same on Wednesday.

"We see cyber insurance as a giant growth market," same Hartmut Mai, member at Allianz's AGCS unit for world company and special insurance risks.

Insuring against cyber threats is seen as a probably profitable marketplace for Europe's insurers, notably currently that lawmakers ar promising larger fines for corporations that lose information.

"If my production lines ar silent as a result of my cloud (computing) supplier cannot create the info I even have keep there offered, then that might threaten the company's existence," Mai told a press making known.

While cyber insurance product within the us ar already well developed, generating premiums of around $1.3 billion annually, they're drawing premiums of solely around one hundred fifty million euros ($192 million) in continental Europe, together with between fifty million and seventy million in Federal Republic of Germany, Mai said.

That leaves space for the market outside the us to grow by double-digit rates.

"We see the market in Europe at between 700 and 900 million euros in 2018," Mai said, adding that Allianz aimed to grow with the market and hold a share of around a fifth.

Allianz has brought many forms of risk cowl, together with some existing insurance product, into one package for its cyber providing, that it expects are going to be of interest to telecoms firms, software package homes, on-line retailers and banks.

Annual premiums would vary from roughly fifty,000 euros to ninety,000 and would supply between ten and fifty million euros of protection, Mai said.

The insurance company is rolling out the package in western Europe, Australia and New Seeland this year and can target many Asian countries in 2014. It doesn't decide to supply it to U.S.-based customers, wherever the liability rules create the market notably robust. ($1 = 0.7821 euros)