MGAs Have Enjoyed a Good Run. 2026 Will Ask Harder Questions.
For the past few years, managing general agents have operated with the wind at their backs. Pricing was firm, capacity selective, and growth was rewarded. New platforms launched quickly and premiums scaled rapidly.
As 2026 begins, that environment is changing.
The Marsh Global Insurance Market Index shows that global commercial insurance rates fell by around 4% in Q3 2025, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of declines after several years of sustained increases. Property lines, which had led the hard market, were among the first to turn, with pricing momentum slowing to flat or negative on loss-free renewals in several regions.
It is not a sudden swing into a soft market, but it is enough to change the dynamic between MGAs and the carriers backing them. Growth is becoming easier to generate at precisely the point when tolerance for underperformance is diminishing.
That combination has a habit of unearthing weaknesses.
As Markets Soften, More KPIs Are Needed
Insurance markets aren’t static — they tend to move in cycles.
In a hard market, capacity is tight, terms narrow, and insurers can afford to be very selective about the risks they underwrite. Growth is scarce and therefore valuable.
In a softening market, rates drop, growth becomes cheap. Anyone can write more premium when capacity loosens and brokers push harder. Aon’s Global Insurance Market Insights note that abundant insurer and reinsurance capacity through 2025 has intensified competition, particularly across EMEA commercial lines where loss experience has been stable.
As that happens, the metrics insurers care about shift quickly. Quantity stops being impressive. Quality starts to matter.
Growth is no longer enough. Underwriting discipline is king.
Where Pressure Will Show First
Problems will not announce themselves in year-end numbers. They will show up in behaviour long beforehand. Underwriting discipline will be tested as brokers push harder for favourable terms. Routine widening of underwriting tolerances and repeated ‘temporary’ deviations from risk appetite should be treated as early warning signs.
The WTW Insurance Marketplace Realities 2026 report describes a market where competitive conditions tend to precede observable deterioration in underwriting results, with loss experience typically emerging only after pricing pressure and growth decisions have already played out.
Some MGAs will hold the line. Others will rationalise why they don’t. The difference will be obvious to any carrier with their finger on the pulse.
Portfolio oversight will become more central to capacity decisions. Diligent carriers will pay closer attention to exposure concentration, early loss signals, and how decisively underperformance is addressed.
Delegated authority arrangements can no longer be founded in trust alone. Expect carriers to demonstrate heightened professional scepticism in 2026.
Tech Edge or Niche Expertise Will Decide Who Gets Capacity
In 2026, insurers will back MGAs that have something genuinely hard to copy: superior technology capability or deep, specialist underwriting knowledge. Everything else is table stakes.
The WTW 2026 market outlook emphasises that, as competition increases, insurers are focusing more closely on underwriting quality, data transparency and risk selection, rather than headline growth alone.
Some platforms will win because their technology genuinely leads to better underwriting decisions. Better outcomes will trump pretty dashboards.
Others will win through niche underwriting expertise in tightly defined classes where judgement and experience matter more than scale. Knowledge that cannot be bought quickly or replicated easily will attract more durable capacity.
None of this is new. What has changed is how much weight these factors now carry. The changing conditions will start to separate the platforms built for long-term performance from those that fared well mainly because of hard market conditions.
Private Equity’s Influence Will Tell as Markets Soften
There’s another factor shaping the outlook for 2026: private equity.
Over the past few years, PE firms have become significant players across the financial sector, the MGA space included. Some established platforms have been acquired by private funds while others have backed new entrants with ambitious growth plans. That capital has helped expand distribution and accelerated technological investment.
But PE involvement also distorts incentives — and those misalignments become more obvious as markets soften.
It’s no secret that private capital partners emphasise growth above all else. PE investors tend to have time horizons measured in years rather than decades, and they seek exits that occur at a particular valuation multiple. That often translates into MGAs being pushed to chase premium volume even when pricing pressure suggests caution might be wiser.
In hard market conditions, the model plays out well: pricing is supportive, carriers are receptive, and growth tends to deliver good results. As conditions soften, the tension between rapid expansion and long-term underwriting discipline suddenly becomes more apparent.
As 2026 unfolds, savvier capacity providers will pay closer attention to how MGA growth is being financed and incentivised. This does not imply that PE-backed platforms are inherently weaker — many are incredibly well run — but it does mean tolerance for misalignment is shrinking.
In 2026, more diligent carriers will start asking questions about who really controls underwriting decisions, and why.
Ireland’s MGA Market is Maturing
Ireland’s MGA market rarely attracts headlines. It lives in the shadow of the more developed US and UK markets.
But advancements are being made. Ireland is increasingly being used as a base for specialist, pan-European underwriting platforms. This was most clearly signalled by the establishment of Orvia Underwriting, a Dublin-headquartered MGA platform backed by Ardonagh Europe. Meanwhile, SME specialist iSure announced expansion of its professional indemnity offering through new facilities and renewed long-term capacity. It comes as several indigenous brokers and MGAs are being acquired by international players at an unprecedented pace. The market is buoyant.
From a supervisory perspective, the Central Bank of Ireland has been clear that it will not move towards MGA-specific regulation. Instead, it will focus on how insurers govern, oversee and continually monitor delegated underwriting arrangements. These topics are firmly in scope for a regulatory thematic review earmarked for 2026.
In practice, this means weak delegated arrangements will be scrutinised through insurer supervision rather than through direct regulation of MGAs.
Growth Alone Won’t Save Weaker Platforms
The MGA market is still growing, and rapidly so. According to a 2025 industry snapshot, global annual premiums have now surpassed the $100bn mark, with growth at double-digit rates in recent years — outpacing broader commercial insurance market growth.
In 2026, the issue will not be whether MGAs can write more business. But the market will become less forgiving of platforms that confuse favourable conditions with genuine underwriting strength.
Some platforms will come through it stronger, with deeper capacity relationships and tighter controls. Others will discover that favourable market conditions were doing more of the heavy lifting than they realised.
Looking Into 2026 and Beyond
2026 is not about whether MGAs can grow. Most can.
It is about whether growth still deserves capacity.
As conditions evolve, a few things look likely:
Underwriting discipline and portfolio management will matter more.
Technology and knowledge of niche lines will be differentiators in capacity discussions.
Alignment of capital incentives, particularly where private equity is involved, will be a factor.
MGAs are now being evaluated on a broader set of criteria. Those that cannot adapt will not fail overnight. They will simply find that renewal discussions become harder, terms tighter, and patience shorter.