MGA sector entering ‘two speed market’ as innovation and maturity diverge – SiriusPoint’s Alex Hardy

The MGA market is maturing and becoming a more established subsector of the UK general insurance (UKGI) landscape.

This is demonstrated by 2024 market figures shared by Managing General Agents’ Association (MGAA) chief executive Mike Keating in April 2025 – he stated that there were over 350 MGAs operating in the UK last year, managing around 10% of the UK’s £47bn general insurance premiums.

Speaking exclusively to Insurance Times, Alex Hardy – director of delegated and distribution at global (re)insurance business SiriusPoint – explained that, in his opinion, many MGAs have become so established that they are “getting to a scale” and level of “maturity” that is comparable to traditional insurers.

For him, this creates a unique “two speed market”, with well known MGAs growing into larger, weighter businesses that are almost pseudo incumbent insurers, while carrier staff are increasingly opting to leave traditional insurance firms to instead establish or join technology focused startups that are vying to “fill gaps” in underwriting service and innovation progression.

Whatever the size of the business, Hardy stressed that for MGAs to succeed, they must lean into their point of difference or specialty, to ensure continued innovation.

He noted: “MGAs are really careful about picking the right capacity provider, [to] make sure [it is a firm that is] prepared to support innovation and growth for the long term.”

Capacity challenge

Although the size and clout of MGAs may be changing shape amid Hardy’s “two speed” marketplace, he added that there is still one universal challenge to be surmounted – sourcing capacity as the market softens and supply overpowers demand.

For him, this trading environment puts pressure on MGAs’ margins and could create a “tight knit capacity” problem where capacity providers focus on what he describes as less inventive startups, or safer risks.

However, Hardy told Insurance Times that long-term partnerships should be cognisant of managing market cycles, rather than put off by market ebbs and flows.

For example, SiriusPoint has been careful not to turn startups away just because they do not yet have a proven track record. Although partnering with new businesses holds “inherently more risk”, Hardy believes this is a key way that the insurance industry “can support innovation”.

He continued: “Particularly in this sector, tech is often involved in innovation in terms of solving cost inequality.

“From our perspective, we’re very mindful that we are there supporting any class of design and our job is not to meddle with MGAs’ approach, but to support it.

“The selection process we go through with our partners both ways are so important because it needs to be right not just for a year or two, [but] over the cycle.”

‘A balance to strike’

A further challenge for MGAs, according to Hardy, is regulation.

Although he supports the intent of the FCA’s plans to simplify its rule book and remove any unnecessary duplication with Consumer Duty – announced in May 2025 – he added that MGAs tend to “feel those costs more than most” because they are more entrepreneurial in their business models.

Hardy explained: “Those [that] take it seriously and want to get it right are increasingly behaving much more like insurers have to and so there’s a balance to strike because MGAs are currently regulated more similarly to insurance intermediaries rather than insurers.

“At the moment, there’s a lot that’s open to interpretation [in the FCA’s announcement, which] can be tricky for MGAs to navigate.”