12/21/2021
Paragon opened its doors last summer as a market leader in contingency insurance for some of the world’s largest sports, leisure, entertainment, conference, exhibition and tradeshow industries. Since we started writing business back in July, we have enjoyed fantastic support from brokers around the country and, in just a short period of time, have established ourselves as one on the main go-to markets in the United States.
The big question in the contingency market: What will the business look like in 2022 as we inch closer (fingers crossed) toward a post-pandemic market? Sure, we have seen a welcomed uptick in events in recent months, but, with international travel still hobbled, many of those relying on this traffic have either had to cancel events or have seen attendance drop significantly. Of course, the primary goal for most organizers is to turn a profit, and the uncertainty of how many will actually want to attend, or even be allowed to attend, has clearly thrown a wrench into the planning processes for the coming year.
The event insurance market has contracted in a big way over the past 24 months, leading to a massive opportunity for those entering or remaining in the class despite the headwinds.
But Paragon’s feeling, even as the latest variant raises plenty of questions, is that the 2022 event industry will bounce back from 2021 as international travel bans get lifted for most countries and as attendees, delegates, etc, grow increasingly comfortable in returning to business on the road. In turn, confidence will return for organizers to fully reopen and plan global events/tours. Dovetailed with this is the insureds’ desire to buy event cancellation coverage to protect out-of-pocket expenses and revenues, especially on the back of the last 18 months of reduced or no profit from their events.
The event insurance market has contracted in a big way over the past 24 months, leading to a massive opportunity for those entering or remaining in the class despite the headwinds. Reinsurance appetite has declined and those companies still offering event reinsurance have scaled back cover and increased premiums to the point where many carriers are writing net lines. This has meant capacity is critical in today’s market, and Paragon’s $25 million in capacity puts us in a very strong position heading into the new year.
Paragon will be looking to diversify our book in 2022 by taking over Beazley’s Weather Guard business. This offering will include a broker-facing quote-to-bind online platform, allowing for instant documentation and easy access to multiple quote options. Also, we’re adding a broker-facing event cancellation conference and tradeshow along with a non-appearance web-based platform. This is primarily designed to handle the smaller-business cost effectively for all parties but will also handle larger-business cost more seamlessly.
In the spirit of becoming a one-stop shop for brokers, we are exploring opportunities in the content production space, as well as considering other sports-related product offerings.
— Christian Phillips, president of Paragon Contingency Practices.