Sandy Reveals U.S. Contingency Business Opportunity for Beazley

Following Superstorm Sandy, one thing became clearer to Beazley: there is a need for event cancellation coverage.

Beazley, a leading insurer of event cancellation and other forms of contingency business at Lloyd’s, says it will start underwriting the risk in the United States beginning in 2013.

“Superstorm Sandy highlighted once again the need on the part of the event organizers for robust event cancellation coverage,” says Chris Rackliffe, head of Beazley’s contingency team, in a statement “We see great opportunity in the U.S. market.”

Sandy canceled the New York Marathon, Broadway shows, and delayed or canceled events, like concerts and other shows in Atlantic City, N.J.

Beazley says Christian Phillips will be leading the growth of the U.S. account. He is credited with building the contingency business in London, Beazley says.

Phillips will be located at Beazley’s Philadelphia office beginning in early January.

Phillips says Beazley’s policy “covers costs and expenses incurred to put the event on and also lost revenue [such as] ticket sales should they need to be refunded due to the event being cancelled. In this scenario the loss of revenue would be deemed as business interruption.”

On a non-admitted basis, Beazley will underwrite event cancellation, non-appearance, prize indemnity and weather business in the U.S.

Rackliffe says Beazley currently underwrites a lot of U.S. risk at Lloyd’s and will continue to do so, but “there is also a wide range of U.S. business that we cannot readily access through our existing distribution channels.”