Brokers placing business through managing general agents (MGAs) in the US excess and surplus (E&S) market now have a new capacity option. Pinion Insurance has cleared its final US regulatory hurdle – Form A change-in-control approval from the Oklahoma Department of Insurance – to acquire Catlin Specialty Insurance Company, an E&S-eligible carrier, and begin binding domestic specialty business.
The company launched in February 2026 with a preferred equity commitment of up to $180 million from Barings, a global asset management firm, according to the company’s launch announcement. Its model is built around direct digital integration with MGA partners, using a proprietary technology platform to share underwriting, exposure, and claims data between the carrier, its MGA partners, and capital providers in real time.
Gary Maier, US chief executive officer of Pinion Insurance, said the approval marks a significant step in establishing the company in the domestic market.
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“We are building a business designed specifically for the modern MGA ecosystem, combining experienced underwriting leadership, responsive long-term capacity, and technology that enables us to work with our partners in a fundamentally different way. Our goal is to make doing business with Pinion simple, transparent, and responsive, while giving MGAs greater insight into portfolio performance and identifying opportunities for profitable growth,” Maier said.
Pinion is already in active discussions with specialist MGAs across a range of US specialty lines, with underwriting and due diligence ongoing. Its technology platform is built on the infrastructure of Pinion Risk Consulting, a data and analytics company focused on the MGA sector.
Carriers are reassessing MGA relationships with a focus on data quality and loss performance. AM Best’s June 2026 market segment report on delegated underwriting authority enterprises found that 2025 marked the fifth consecutive year of direct premium growth for the sector – but capacity providers are now prioritizing long-term underwriting quality and loss ratio stability over growth, applying more rigorous due diligence before arrangements are extended or renewed.
The same report found that non-exclusive MGA contracts now account for the majority of MGA-produced premium – a structure that gives carriers greater flexibility to exit underperforming programs at renewal. For brokers, that matters: when a carrier rotates out of a program, the placement work starts again, often at short notice.
Pinion’s data-sharing model is designed to close the information gap that typically sits between a carrier and its MGA partners, reducing the friction that leads to capacity disruptions at renewal.
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Kyle Selvig, US chief underwriting officer of Pinion Insurance, said the company’s focus is now on execution.
“We are ready to partner with high-quality MGAs that bring specialist underwriting expertise, strong distribution, and a clear alignment of interests with their capacity providers. We have built a strong pipeline of opportunities; we now have the team and capabilities lined up to begin converting that pipeline into long-term underwriting partnerships,” Selvig said.
US MGA total premium reached approximately $128 billion in 2025, according to Conning’s July 2026 study. Statutory MGA direct premium written grew at more than double the broader property-casualty market’s rate over the same period.
That growth has drawn a wave of new capacity entrants competing for the same pool of high-performing specialty programs. Brokers assessing which MGA programs are best positioned to retain E&S capacity through the next renewal cycle now have one more carrier to evaluate alongside established capacity sources.
Pinion plans to expand its US underwriting operations and targets the UK and European markets from 2027, subject to further regulatory approvals.
