The world is not getting simpler. Geopolitical instability, climate-driven natural catastrophes, economic volatility, and the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence are reshaping how risk is priced, transferred, and understood. For Australian businesses, families, and communities, these forces are not abstract. They translate directly into insurance affordability and accessibility pressures that are intensifying. The threat of underinsurance — of people and businesses left exposed when it matters most — has rarely been more present.
In an environment this complex, the case for trusted, expert, independent risk advice has never been stronger. What has changed is our ability to prove it.
Over the past 18 months, the National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) has delivered three landmark research reports that, taken together, tell the most complete story of the insurance broking profession. Where Ready or Reacting? Shaping the Future of the Broking Profession set the strategic roadmap for the decade ahead, and Complexity to Clarity: The Broker Advantage delivered client-led evidence of the broker's value, our latest report — Data to Direction: Insights from the General Insurance Broking Profession — completes the picture by mapping the profession: its size, structure, economic contribution, and growth trajectory, at the most comprehensive scale and depth ever attempted.
This is a significant moment for the profession, and I want to explain why.
Data to Direction draws on broker responses from across the country, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) industry data, and international benchmarks. What it reveals is a profession operating at extraordinary economic scale. Australian insurance brokers manage AU$35.6 billion in intermediated gross written premiums, nearly half (46%) of all general insurance written in Australia. That sits within a $77.9 billion general insurance market.
These figures are not just impressive in isolation. They are evidence of the depth of trust Australian businesses and communities place in their brokers, and of the structural role the profession plays in keeping the national economy insured and resilient. Brokers are not peripheral to Australia's financial ecosystem. They are central to it.
Data to Direction maps the scale of the profession. Our earlier consumer research, Complexity to Clarity, already told us what that scale meant for the people brokers serve.
On average, clients save approximately 20 hours through the insurance process by working with a broker — time they reinvest into running and growing their business. 95% view their broker as critical to claims resolution, and 98% report their claims have been successfully resolved. 84% trust their broker to act in their best interests. 91% say working with a broker led to better business outcomes.
These are not soft measures of satisfaction. They are evidence that brokers have moved well beyond the role of an intermediary. They are strategic partners, risk managers and client advocates — removing friction, creating confidence, and delivering peace of mind precisely when the risk landscape is most uncertain. Clients want clarity. Brokers deliver it.
Data confirms value. Accountability reinforces it.
The Insurance Brokers Code of Practice sets out the standards of conduct expected of brokers across Australia — the clear expectations that businesses, families and communities can hold us to when they engage a broker. It is how the profession collectively demonstrates its commitment to self-regulation, and to the clients it serves.
NIBA is currently undertaking a thorough, independent review of the Code, grounded in best practice, to ensure it strengthens consumer outcomes while remaining practical and workable across diverse broking business models. The review is the profession's commitment that what clients experience in practice reflects what they should expect in principle — and as the operating environment evolves, so do our standards.
NIBA is also finalising its 2026–2028 Strategy — a framework built for a world of accelerating change. Anchored in our vision for a strong, trusted and future-ready broking profession, and our purpose to advocate, elevate and connect brokers for the benefit of consumers, the strategy will sharpen NIBA's focus on the risks and opportunities reshaping the profession in the years ahead.
The research arc has been deliberate. Ready or Reacting? challenged the profession to be future-ready by 2035. Complexity to Clarity confirmed that clients already see us that way. Data to Direction shows the economic and structural foundation we have to build from. Together, they give NIBA, and the profession, the evidence base to keep lifting professional standards, deepening capability, and making the case for the broker as Australia's trusted risk adviser. The data makes the case. NIBA looks forward to using the data to continue advocating for a profession that is growing, trusted, and indispensable.
