Direct premiums written by U.S. managing general agents jumped to over $114 billion in 2024, according to the latest installment of an annual research series on the MGA market.
The report titled “” is the 12th annual strategic study published by Conning.
Comparatively, according to Conning, direct premiums written by U.S. MGAs grew 16% in 2024, while the overall property/casualty insurance market grew about 10%.
Conning predicts continued growth momentum—and stronger growth than the broader property/casualty insurance market—”largely driven by MGAs’ strong appeal to both top talent and capacity providers.” Further supporting the forecast of sustained growth, the report also notes that MGAs offer “flexibility and access to niche markets to insurers —without the need to build and manage dedicated underwriting operations internally.”
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In a departure from prior studies, Conning researchers reported premiums from nonaffiliated MGAs—MGAs not owned by insurance companies—accounted for a greater proportion of the premium total, 46.6%, than affiliated MGAs. Affiliated MGAs produced 45.3% of the overall U.S. MGA premium total, with crop MGAs producing the remaining premiums (8.1%).
The nonaffiliated growth, Conning said, is supported by strong MGA relationships with fronting carriers. Conning’s estimates of 2024 fronting premium is $18 billion, representing a growth rate of 26%.
That fronting premium is greater than the MGA premium total written for Lloyd’s syndicates—a figure that Conning puts at roughly $8.5 billion, or 14% higher than the MGA-sourced Lloyd’s premium for the prior year.
Commenting on the overall $114.1 billion estimate, which includes the estimate of business written for Lloyd’s syndicates and an estimate of other premiums produced through MGAs that are not recorded on statutory annual statements, Conning said the figure should be considered a “floor or lower-end” estimate of MGA-produced premium.
Numerical highlights of the report include the following:
- Insurers recorded $91.8 billion of 2024 direct premiums written in statutory filings, a 14.3% jump over 2023.
- For statutory reporting purposes, each insurer is required to report MGA premium for MGAs that are responsible for producing at least 5% of the insurer’s surplus. Conning believes that accounts for only about 85% of the premiums produced for U.S. insurers. Adding an estimated $13.8 billion for the missing amounts produced by those smaller MGAs brings the total to $105.6 billion.
- The $8.5 billion estimate of premiums sourced by U.S. MGAs for Lloyd’s brings the total to $114.1 billion.
- More than 850 MGAs were identified from statutory filings, with roughly 250 small MGAs estimated to fall below the 5% filing threshold.
- Four fronting companies—Accelerant, Sutton, Transverse and State National—each wrote more than $1 billion in premium in 2024. Together, the four account for 43% of the fronting market.
Offering takeaways beyond the numbers, the report suggests that MGAs are “built for what’s next,” in part, because they are “unburdened by legacy systems,” which affords MGAs the “rare advantage of building modern tech stacks from the ground up.” Such an edge doesn’t just attract “top-tier technology talent, but also accelerates innovation,” the report states.
“This digital freedom, combined with deep underwriting expertise, positions MGAs to pursue opportunities that traditional insurers may have overlooked or deemed too complex,” the report states.
The report also includes insights from a Conning survey of MGAs and insurers, along with an analysis of M&A trends and shifting competitive dynamics.
The survey of 77 MGAs and 57 insurers included questions about capacity constraints, MGA use of AI and analytics, insurer engagement with MGAs, the degree of risk-sharing for MGAs and their use of alternative capital, and the distribution of admitted vs. nonadmitted business.
On the last question, 46% of MGAs said at least 60% of their business is on nonadmitted paper.
The strategic study comes on the heels of a commentary published on the Conning website in May titled “.” Anticipating the findings of the annual premium growth analysis, the May commentary provides further insight on underlying trends, particularly in regard to selectively of insurers.
Among other things, insurers and reinsurers are placing more emphasis on data completeness, real-time reporting and loss ratio performance. Also noted is the fact that insurers are drawn to MGAs led by underwriters that developed strong track records before starting new MGA ventures.
“Insurers and fronts report seeing record levels of program submissions, but are adding only a small percentage of new programs—often citing concerns around program quality, reinsurer reliability, or startup underwriting depth,” the commentary says, stressing that good ideas need to be supported by clear plans.
The commentary also provides a list of the top 5 nonaffiliated MGAs for 2024, ranked by premiums:
- AmRisc, which took Conning’s top spot for four years straight.
- Private Client Select (Note: Conning considers ownership under 50 percent on Schedule Y to be an investment, so this MGA is not classified as an AIG affiliate by Conning.)
- Arrowhead
- Hagerty Insurance Agency
- Millennial Specialty
In a separate report published early last month, AM Best provided two different rankings of MGAs—one list of MGAs with exclusive carrier relationships and a second list of non-exclusive MGAs.
The Best’s Market Segment Report, “,” ranks Rain and Hail LLC, a crop insurance MGA writing exclusively through Chubb, as the largest exclusive MGA. Starr Specialty Agency leads the non-exclusive list.
Overall, the AM Best report tallies a slightly lower total for 2024 MGA-produced premium reported by insurers on statutory statements—$89.9 billion vs. $91.8 billion from the Conning analysis.
Still, like the Conning report, AM Best comments on the continued strong growth for the segment, calculating a 15% climb last year and noting this marked a fourth consecutive year of double-digit percentage increases.
According to the AM Best report, the number of insurers that reported more that $500 million in direct premiums written produced by MGAs increased to 19 in 2024 from 12 the previous year. Six insurers passed the $1 billion mark, doubling the total of three from 2023.
AM Best said the industry also “has pivoted toward non-exclusive MGA relationships,” which grew to roughly estimated 57% of the total in 2024, compared to 33% in 2017.
“Non-exclusive MGA arrangements give carriers greater flexibility to adjust their portfolios in response to loss trends, pricing cycles, or changes in reinsurance availability, allowing for easier exits by underperforming segments of their portfolio,” said Dawn Walker, associate director, industry relation (DUAE), in a statement.
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