Amulet Specialty, a new specialist managing general agent (MGA) backed by MISSION, has launched offering cover across a broad range of property types, as well as casualty, liability and business interruption.
The MGA enters a property and BI segment currently caught between softening premium, record claims costs and tightening regulatory scrutiny of MGAs, a combination that will test even an experienced founding team.
The MGA is led by co-founders Paul Bennett (pictured left) as chief executive and Jonathan Dermody (pictured right) as chief underwriting officer.
Bennett brings more than 48 years of experience across the UK insurance market, with a long-standing reputation for technical knowledge, trusted broker relationships and senior market leadership. He previously helped launch MGA Oliva in 2008, before it was sold to Dual in 2015, and was a director of Talisman Specialty until January 2026.
Dermody joins from Talisman Specialty, where he was underwriting director responsible for establishing the UK property and casualty offering. He brings a career spanning the UK property and casualty market, with a track record in developing profitable portfolios, building underwriting platforms and leading underwriting teams.
Amulet is the latest in a series of MGAs incubated by MISSION, which supports underwriting teams with capital, technology and operational infrastructure so they can focus on underwriting and broker relationships rather than administration. The firm has backed a run of UK launches over the past year, including Lumara Insurance, led by former Covéa underwriters David Aslin and Mark Greig, and Kovrilo, which provides modular commercial cover for UK SMEs.
That growth reflects a wider UK MGA sector expanding despite softer trading conditions elsewhere in the market. According to the Managing General Agents' Association, MGAs now account for more than 10% of the UK's £47 billion general insurance market, with more than 350 firms operating in the space, and delegated authority's overall market share is forecast to exceed 45% by 2027. Lloyd's reporting shows delegated business already accounts for just under 40% of all business there and is growing faster than open-market placements, particularly on property binder portfolios.
Commercial property rates have been softening for several quarters, with well-managed risks securing double-digit reductions and insurers loosening terms around excesses and flood cover that were tightened during the previous hard market. Set against that, ABI data shows UK property insurance claims are on course to reach £6.1 billion for 2025, the highest annual payout on record, with weather-related claims alone estimated at £1.6 billion, more than double the annual average seen between 2017 and 2021.
That combination of softening premium and rising claims costs has put underinsurance back on the market's agenda, with recent reporting suggesting a majority of UK commercial properties may not currently be insured to full reinstatement value. For a new entrant writing across property and business interruption, accurate valuation and disciplined risk selection are likely to matter as much to long-term performance as pricing competitiveness.
The sector's growth is also drawing closer regulatory attention. The Financial Conduct Authority has expanded its oversight review of MGA and coverholder governance and remuneration structures from the second quarter of 2026, with findings expected in early 2027, centred on claims handling and consumer outcomes under the Consumer Duty. Insurers cannot delegate away accountability for outcomes even where underwriting and claims functions sit with an MGA, meaning capacity providers increasingly expect audited claims-handling data as a standard condition of capacity rather than optional good practice.
Against that backdrop, Amulet's pitch is essentially a bet that experience counts for more than ever. New entrants backed by leadership with Bennett and Dermody's track record may be better placed to secure and retain capacity, with carrier partners increasingly focused on underwriting consistency, loss ratio stability and portfolio discipline alongside growth, at a moment when plentiful capacity has not been matched by equally settled claims trends.
