When Australian insurance brokers are asked what they value most in an insurer, the answer is consistent: speed on claims, speed on new business, and reliability across both. That broker-driven hierarchy – not brand size or commission structure – now shapes one of the market’s most consequential annual accountability mechanisms. The National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) opened its 2026 Broker Market Survey on August 19, conducted in partnership with research firm NielsenIQ. Open to NIBA members until Friday, September 4, 2026, the survey directly determines the winners of the NIBA Insurer Awards – the market’s most visible public ranking of insurer and underwriting agency performance as assessed by the brokers who place business with them. Award categories include Large General Insurer of the Year, Specialty Insurer of the Year, and Underwriting Agency of the Year, with winners announced at the NIBA Convention on the Gold Coast in October 2026.
According to the Insurance Business Australia Brokers on Insurers 2026 report, turnaround times dominated broker priorities across a four-year data set, with claims turnaround and new business turnaround edging ahead of overall service level as the top two criteria brokers use when evaluating insurers – for the first time in the available data. Commission structure ranked last for the third consecutive year.
Brokers are not voting on brand size or market share – they are voting on what it feels like to do business with an insurer day to day, year after year. Responsiveness emerged as the single most consistent differentiator across every category, with a prompt “no” valued as much as a prompt “yes.” That assessment reflects what practitioners describe as the decisive test of an insurer relationship. John McCabe, president of Liberty – which won gold in claims turnaround in the same survey – said the operating principle is direct. “A quick no is better than a delayed no. Nothing frustrates broking partners more than waiting around for an answer – especially when they’ve already had five of them,” McCabe said.
The NIBA Broker Market Survey captures these same service dimensions – claims handling, underwriting expertise, innovation, and overall service – and translates them into public rankings with direct consequences for insurer reputation and market positioning.
The survey opens against a claims environment that gives broker assessments of insurer performance particular weight. Australians lodged a record 119,949 complaints with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) in 2025-26 – the highest annual volume on record and the third consecutive year complaints exceeded 100,000, with delay in claim handling, service quality, and claim rejection the three most complained-about issues.
Nearly half of all general insurance written in Australia flows through brokers, yet the channel generates less than 1% of total AFCA complaints. NIBA’s February 2026 consumer research report, Complexity to Clarity: The Broker Advantage – produced with Insurance Advisernet and independent research firm CoreData – adds further context. The report found that 95% of respondents view brokers as critical to claims resolution and that 98% report their claims have been successfully resolved, with clients saving an average of 7.2 hours when managing a claim through a broker. Those figures are drawn from businesses currently using or having previously used a broker, rather than a cross-section of all Australian insurance buyers, a methodological distinction worth noting when comparing them with broader market complaint data.
NIBA CEO Richard Klipin said the survey gives brokers a structured mechanism to put performance on the record. “The Broker Market Survey is one of the most valuable tools we have. The insurers and agencies that come out on top are those brokers trust to deliver when it counts. I’d encourage every broker to take part – your feedback shapes the benchmark the whole market measures itself against,” Klipin said.
The 2025 edition drew what NIBA described as the highest response rate since the survey’s inception. More than 1,000 brokers participated – the highest level of involvement since the survey began – underscoring the sector’s ongoing commitment to contributing to industry development. Vero was awarded Large General Insurer of the Year for 2025, an award with a history of over 20 years determined by broker feedback through the survey. Liberty Specialty Markets was named Specialty Insurer of the Year and NTI was named Underwriting Agency of the Year.
NielsenIQ director Angela Carter said the results reflect demonstrated service improvement rather than static preference. “Vero has demonstrated continued improvement in their perception of being seen as the most trusted partner for brokers as a large general insurer. They have taken feedback from past surveys to improve year on year, building stronger relationships with brokers and shaping change within the industry,” Carter said.
That feedback loop – broker assessment driving public recognition, which shapes subsequent insurer conduct – is what distinguishes the survey from a passive satisfaction exercise. The NIBA Insurer Awards are determined through the independent survey, which invites brokers across Australia to rate insurers and underwriting agencies across criteria including product quality, service standards, brand reputation, and overall broker experience – ensuring the awards reflect genuine market performance as seen by those who work most closely with insurers.
Invitations are distributed by NielsenIQ via personalised email links to NIBA members. All responses are confidential. The survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. Members who have not received an invitation should check their spam or junk folders. Participants earn two CPD points and are entered into a draw to win a $500 prepaid Mastercard. “The NIBA Broker Market Survey empowers brokers to share their experiences, reward best practice, and ultimately, strengthen the relationship between brokers, insurers, and underwriting agencies,” Klipin said.
