The MGA market no longer needs to justify its existence. At BIBA 2026, the more pressing question was which MGAs are built to survive what comes next.
After years of rapid expansion, market access alone is no longer enough. Capacity relationships, underwriting authority, data quality and specialist expertise are increasingly separating established underwriting businesses from MGAs still operating primarily as distribution vehicles.
For Tom Downey (pictured), chief executive of Pen Underwriting, the next phase is less about transformation than scale. “We've created the transformation, it's now scaling the transformation upwards,” he said.
Downey said previously many capacity providers still viewed MGAs as a largely opportunistic distribution model. That has changed.
“If you stood back and thought about it from five, seven years ago, capacity providers would think of the MGA sector as a sort of opportunistic way of building business,” he said, adding that those relationships had since become “more strategic”.
Luke Dowle, director at SSR, described a similar evolution in broker expectations and insurer relationships. Historically, MGAs often differentiated themselves through access to markets regional brokers struggled to reach directly. But as the sector has expanded, Dowle argued that underwriting capability and operational discipline now matter far more than simple distribution access.
“The MGA now needs to operate as a proper underwriting vehicle for the insurers, whilst delivering the service and ease of trading brokers expect” he said.
That means understanding loss performance, operating ratios and product governance, while maintaining the long-term insurer relationships that underpin broker confidence.
“The strongest MGA position is to get with the right market and stay with them,” said Dowle.
Specialist MGAs, Dowle argued, increasingly derive their advantage from underwriting knowledge, found through volume and repetition rather than simply branding themselves as niche players.
For Dowle, the market’s growing obsession with “complexity” sometimes misses the point. “The complexity bit is kind of a red herring to me because I don't think anything's necessarily complex if you've got people who understand it and deal with it enough,” he said.
Downey framed the same idea through what he described as “product adjacency”, expanding from an established underwriting position into related specialist sectors.
“Our job as MGAs is to design, build and distribute products,” he said. “And I call Pen the magic in the middle.”
Soft market conditions across SME and property lines are also increasing pressure on underwriting discipline.
“There are instances where newer entrants are prioritising scale, which may involve accepting higher loss ratios and more competitive commission structures. The long-term sustainability of those approaches remains to be seen,” said Simon Bell, lead underwriter at Touchstone Underwriting.
Bell observed that, in parts of the market, there are signs of a shift back towards more disciplined underwriting practices, creating opportunities for MGAs to move quickly and tailor products around individual risks.
“MGAs who have fewer referral points, hold more capacity and more authority, will have that flexibility on their underwriting approach to help their business grow,” he said.
Bell added that expectations from brokers and clients continue to evolve, with speed of response now playing a more prominent role.
“There is a growing expectation from brokers and clients for timely responses. Managing that demand while maintaining underwriting discipline will be an important consideration for the market going forward.”
The picture emerging from BIBA 2026 is not of an MGA market slowing down, but of one becoming more selective. The barriers to entry may have lowered, but expectations around underwriting capability, service standards, data quality and insurer relationships are rising quickly.
Dowle believes that will increasingly separate stronger operators from weaker ones.
“With that increased number and visibility of MGAs, I think you're going to then see stronger competition of what is a good MGA, what is not a good MGA,” he said. “It's just a maturation of the MGA space.”
For MGAs, the next phase of growth may therefore depend less on access and more on proving they can operate as disciplined, scalable underwriting businesses in their own right.
