Clear Group rebrands MGA division as it looks to strengthen market position

Clear Group has announced that it is rebranding its MGA division to Shape Underwriting.

The broker said it was making the move as it wanted to put its MGA operations under a single brand, believing this will improve its service proposition and strengthen its position in the market.

The first stage of the consolidation process begins today (1 May 2025), with two of the broker’s MGAs – Profile Underwriting and One Commercial Specialty – now trading under the new name.

Mandy Hunt, managing director at Shape Underwriting, said: “The rebranding to Shape Underwriting is a significant milestone in shaping our market leading MGA proposition.

“By unifying our MGA businesses under a single brand, we are able to enhance our ability to provide specialised underwriting expertise and exceptional service to our broker partners.

“We are excited about the opportunities this rebrand presents for our broker partners and our people and how this sets us up for our future growth plans.”

Expansion

The move comes as Clear Group continues to grow its presence through organic growth and strategic acquisitions.

Mike Edgeley, the broker’s group chief executive, told Insurance Times that the firm was planning a “really measured, careful build out” into Continental Europe this year as it seeks to develop “a proper global proposition” that can support clients “both in the UK and abroad”.

He said: “Our approach, rather than suddenly dropping into lots of different countries, is [to] pick up that [buy and build] model [we have used in the UK] and move it into another country to get – in a good, sensible, measured way – some critical mass in that country, then move to the next one.

“We will start with one particular country in Europe and we’ll look at bringing a series of small brokers together, building out a platform from that.”