Capacity challenges, technology investment and a renewed focus on underwriting discipline were key talking points at Insurance DataLab’s latest webinar, where an expert panel discussed how the MGA market is evolving in the face of shifting conditions.
Senior leaders from Geo Underwriting Services, Rising Edge, Insurtech UK and the MGAA joined Insurance DataLab co-founders Dan King and Matt Scott to share their views on what it takes to succeed in today’s MGA landscape, with a focus on agility, resilience and data-driven decision-making. As Geo Underwriting Services chief executive Jaime Swindle put it, success comes from “resilience, innovation and a culture that supports continual improvement”.
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The panel also explored the pressures facing MGAs when it comes to growth, profitability and securing capacity.
Insurance DataLab co-founder Matt Scott opened the session with the latest findings from the 2025 MGA Performance Report, which shows a mixed picture for the market. Productivity has reached a record high, with average revenue per employee rising by more than 8%, but both growth and profitability have dipped slightly, reflecting increased competition and tougher trading conditions.
Despite this, MGAs continue to outperform in key areas – and a number of top performers were recognised with an Insurance DataLab Gold Award.
Swindle said high-performing MGAs generally excelled at striking the right balance between sector expertise and operational efficiency, while also investing in technology that enhances human underwriting rather than replacing it.
Rising Edge chief executive Philippe Gouraud agreed, pointing to “speed as a mindset” as a core strength of the best MGA operations. He did warn, however, that this must not descend into “recklessness” but foster a “willingness to explore”.
Meeting the Challenge on Rate and Returns
With falling rates across several lines and fierce competition for business, the panel reflected on the challenge of maintaining rate adequacy in today’s environment.
Swindle said MGAs were “working much harder for a much lower return”, while Gouraud argued that the real differentiator was operational efficiency – particularly when acquisition costs and claims costs are broadly consistent across the market. “If you can be operating at two or three or five points better than your competitor, then of course you can pass that on [to the customer],” he added.
MGAA chief executive Mike Keating also suggested that some MGAs were drawing on the “tailwind” of rate increases from recent years to remain competitive, using that “redundancy in rate” to absorb pressure without compromising profitability in the short term.
A Changing Landscape for Capacity
The session also included highlights from a recent Insurance DataLab and Insurtech UK survey of capacity providers, which found strong appetite to work with MGAs – particularly those offering something unique.
Almost a third of capacity providers surveyed said they expected to significantly increase the amount of premium written through InsurTech MGAs this year, and more than 80% said they were likely to engage with a new MGA over the next 12 months.
But Insurtech UK chief executive Melissa Collett warned that many early-stage MGAs are still struggling to find backing.
“This is really stifling innovation,” she said. “Because it means that the new ideas and approaches and new ways of [meeting] customer needs aren’t getting off the ground.”
Meanwhile, Gouraud said the key was showing that their model was scalable, relevant, and underpinned by sound underwriting logic.
Staying Ahead of Regulation
Regulation remains a hot topic, with many sectors of the industry criticising the regulator for the high compliance and regulatory workload introduced as part of the recent changes to FCA oversight.
Keating said that he welcomed the results of the FCA’s simplifying insurance consultation, describing it as a potential “sliding doors moment” for the industry, particularly for commercial MGAs where there was a clear need for “more proportionate regulation”.
But Gouraud argued that many regulations stem from past conduct failings of the industry, and called on firms to get more serious about regulation as then “maybe there would be less need for regulators to come, sometimes heavy handed, and impose these regulations”.
A Data-Driven Look at MGA Performance
The discussion was set against the backdrop of the Insurance DataLab MGA Performance Report 2025, published in association with the MGAA. The report benchmarks firms across growth, profitability and productivity, offering deeper insight into the financial health of the MGA industry and spotlighting the businesses leading the way.
Download the full report here.
Insurance DataLab provides access to powerful benchmarking tools that help MGAs to increase confidence in insurer and distribution partners, benchmark their own performance against peers, and support compliance efforts. If you’d like a demo of the platform, please email tariq.kench@insurancedatalab.com.