Howden launches Sport & Entertainment Global Specialty Practice to help clients navigate new risk landscape

Specialty Practice led by Duncan Fraser will offer specialised expertise on a global scale across entire sport, media & entertainment industry

Howden announces that it has established a Global Specialty Practice for its Sport & Entertainment division to support clients on an international scale, enabling them to access specialist global expertise.

With the sports and entertainment industry facing severe disruption as a result of the global pandemic, and an estimate of $5-6bn in Covid-19 losses, it has reinforced how important robust risk and insurance management is for this sector. Furthermore, the global nature of the risk posed by Covid-19 has highlighted the need for global insurance expertise, where best practice can be shared from all geographies to ensure market leading advice is delivered to clients across the industry.

The new global practice builds on Howden’s sizeable presence across Continental Europe that successfully supports National Governing Bodies, recreation associations and over 3,000,000 individual participants and coaches.  The global business will service the full spectrum of clients operating in this sector, from major events, venues, international and national sports federations, professional and amateur clubs and players, tours, broadcasters, music, TV and film.

Extending its market-leading position in Europe, the practice will aim to become the broker of choice, both in established markets such as the USA and Australasia, and those markets where sports and entertainment is set to experience rapid growth, such as Asia and Latin America.

Duncan Fraser, Global Practice Leader, commented: “Few sectors have been impacted by Covid-19 as severely as sport and entertainment. With cancellations across the board and continued uncertainty around how their activities will resume in the future, the market is in a state of flux. Over the course of the pandemic, our team has played a key role in settling event cancellation losses caused by Covid-19 for our Sport & Entertainment clients, a role we’re immensely proud of.

“The longtail of the pandemic means that many businesses across the sector will have to contend with a degree of uncertainty and disruption for some time. With prices rising and capacity tightening, the market needs a broker that operates in a co-ordinated, consistent and specialised manner on a truly international basis, now more than ever. As a team of product, industry and territorial experts our new Global practice is perfectly poised to advise our clients in these unprecedented times, navigating the continued challenge of Covid, and other new risks set to arise.”

The Global Specialty Practice will leverage HX, Howden Group’s data, technology, analytics and modelling division to model risks, create products and develop solutions that match clients’ risks and build strategic partnerships with insurers.  Future examples of how this insight will lead the way in the market include player injury simulation modelling and historic weather databases to inform buying and pricing for cancellation and abandonment risks.