European MGAs — A Call for Relevance

Our view following the observations of the European MGA Summit in Paris:

European MGAs have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape insurance.

MGAs possess structural advantages that may now become more valuable than ever: shorter decision paths, fewer legacy constraints, proximity to clients and risks, and the entrepreneurial freedom to rethink operating models. But agility alone will not be enough.

In the United States, MGAs account for close to 12% of P&C premiums. Across Europe, the figure is approximately 3.7%, and in markets such as Germany and France, around 1%. The potential is substantial. But market share will not be redistributed simply because a statistical gap exists. Transformational growth requires two things: a significant opportunity and the right moment to pursue it. Europe’s MGAs may have both.

The moment: Agentic AI changes the economics

After years of experimentation, AI has reached the maturity required to operate entire workflows in production environments. We are impressed every day by the difference the AI agents of our AI company, DGTAL, make in insurance workflows. Agentic AI can fundamentally redefine risk selection, pricing, claims management, portfolio steering and client service. Production deployments already demonstrate significant improvements in productivity, speed and consistency. Importantly, investment requirements can remain manageable even for mid-sized organisations, as AI agents can work with existing systems.

The opportunity is equally available to traditional insurers. At some point, everyone will adopt these technologies. But this is where the MGA’s DNA becomes a competitive advantage. Entrepreneurial management, shorter decision paths and fewer organisational dependencies allow MGAs to move faster. Those who redesign their operating models first can establish a head start that others may struggle to close.

Three structural advantages deserve particular attention

Transparency: From weakness to strength

The MGA model has an inherent disadvantage: fragmented information across its value chain. Broker → MGA → Insurer → Reinsurer

Add claims handlers, and the chain becomes longer. Every interface introduces reporting delays, reconciliation requirements and information gaps. In some operating environments, estimates suggest that only 0.5–2% of the underlying information is effectively shared across all stakeholders. Reporting and bordereaux cycles delay the availability of information by months, in extreme cases approaching 300 days.

AI-enabled data integrity layers can fundamentally change this equation. They can reconcile, validate and make all relevant information accessible across the value chain, potentially in real time.

Imagine brokers, MGAs, insurers and reinsurers working from the same continuously updated portfolio information. An intelligently connected MGA ecosystem could become more transparent than a traditionally integrated insurer — despite involving more stakeholders.

Cost: Rethinking the value chain

The MGA model must remunerate several participants: brokers, MGAs, insurers, reinsurers and often service providers. This makes efficiency essential, particularly in soft markets when margins come under pressure.

Agentic AI allows workflows to be redesigned across underwriting, administration, claims and reporting. Coordinated agents can eliminate repeated manual interventions and reconciliations, while human expertise remains focused on judgement and accountability. The opportunity extends beyond reducing the MGA’s own expenses. It is about lowering costs across the value chain, improving competitiveness and enabling profitable growth throughout insurance cycles.

Underwriting: From guidelines to individual risk selection

Everyone talks about underwriting discipline. Loudly in hard markets, more quietly when competition intensifies. Traditionally, discipline relies on guidelines, restrictions and portfolio limits. Under pressure to maintain premium volumes, these measures become increasingly difficult to enforce consistently.

Again, Agentic AI enables a different approach: assessing individual risks using richer information, consistently applying underwriting criteria and continuously learning from portfolio performance. The ambition is no longer merely to reduce the proportion of unwanted risks. It is to identify and actively deselect every unsuitable risk that the available evidence allows us to recognise.

The window will not remain open for ever

European MGAs are slowly gaining relevance. The market opportunity is substantial. The technology to overcome longstanding structural disadvantages is available.

Now, entrepreneurial, mid-sized MGAs have the freedom to act before larger organisations complete their transformation. But Agentic AI will become standard throughout insurance. What creates differentiation today may become a basic requirement tomorrow.

The opportunity is therefore not simply to gain market share. It is to become a genuinely relevant force in the future insurance industry. Relevance will not be granted by market statistics or technological promises. It must be earned through action.

As William Shakespeare wrote:

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.”

For Europe’s MGAs, the tide is not the sea itself; it is the technology they can take advantage of now.