2024: Managing General Agents - Ahead of the Pack
In 2023, MGAs experienced robust growth, surpassing the broader property-casualty insurance market. The increase in premiums was driven by hard market conditions across various market segments and the ongoing availability of underwriting capacity through fronting companies, despite terms for capacity being stringent. Meanwhile, MGA premium backed by Lloyd’s syndicates—historically the largest supporter of MGAs in the U.S. market—rose just 1% in 2023.
Most MGAs specialize in niche markets, leveraging their deep understanding of risks and strong agent relationships. They provide insurers, reinsurers, and alternative capital providers with “plug and play” opportunities to access such business without significant investments in talent and operations. A substantial portion of MGA-written business naturally gravitates toward the E&S (excess and surplus lines) market, where more volatile risks are typically placed. Recent years have seen increased perceived volatility across various lines of business, leading to significant flows of business into the E&S market (with a compound annual growth rate of 20% since 2018).
The release of the eleventh Strategic Study on the U.S. MGA sector provides a chance to analyze the enduring trends that have transformed the property-casualty market over the past decade, elevating MGAs to a more significant position. In this report, we will address the following topics:
- a review of important market trends
- an analysis of premium flows and insurer relationships
- a summary of our 2024 survey of MGAs and insurers
- a review of the current state of the fronting market
Table of Contents:
- Introduction
- Executive Summary
- MGA Market 2023
- 2023 MGA Market Landscape
- Program Market Insurer Trends
- MGA Premium Trends
- Conning’s 2024 MGA and Program Market Survey
- M&A in the Program Markets
- Fronting Sector: More Complex Than Meets the Eye
Appendix
- Methodology and Definition of MGA Premium Analysis
- Overview of the MGA Market
- Conning MGA Dataset
Introduction
This is Conning’s eleventh annual study on the property-casualty program business market. Conning includes the following in its property-casualty program business universe: (1) MGAs (managing general agents), (2) MGUs (managing general underwriters), and (3) PAs (program administrators, also known as program managers). Throughout this study, the term “MGA” is used as a general term meant to capture distribution firms that operate with some degree of delegated authority from an insurer or capital provider. We analyze 2023 reported results for this group as well as related M&A (merger and acquisition activity).