MGAs must adapt amid shifting client behaviour – Geo Underwriting’s Jaime Swindle

The insurance industry is currently seeing a larger amount of client movement rarely seen in softer markets.

That is according to Jaime Swindle, chief executive at Geo Underwriting, who also said that firms “need to change and adapt to this cycle very differently to the cycles that [they’ve] been through previously”.

She made the claim following the release of Insurance DataLabs’ MGA Performance Report 2025 on 3 July 2025, which rated more than 30 MGAs across profitability, growth and productivity metrics. She was speaking as part of the market intelligence firm’s webinar on 10 July 2025, entitled ’The MGA Evolution: Navigating the Next Phase’.

The report revealed that average profitability rating across the MGA market fell for the second year in a row to 49.3%, down 0.6 percentage points, as MGAs grapple with inflationary pressures, capacity constraints and heightened competition. 

Growth has also softened slightly, with the average growth rating for MGAs falling to 55.4% from 55.9% in 2024. 

Swindle said this comes amid her seeing people enter more specialist lines and opening MGAs and that there has been ”aggressive competitiveness in terms of the amount of capacity that is in the market, [which] is further increasing the competition”.

She added: ”It’s great as a buyer [as] you’ve got broader appetite, but it’s slightly more challenging when you’re on this side of the fence because it means that you’re working much harder for a much lower return.

“There are some unique factors this time around. I don’t think it is the usual hard [or] soft market cycle. There is a lot more uncertainty in the wider macroeconomic climate.”

She added: “We’ve seen stronger retention with brokers, but pressure on the rating.

“What we’re now seeing is far more movement, which has been enabled by technology and more informed client banks.”

Operational efficiency

For Philippe Gouraud, chief executive at Rising Edge, the “real battlefield” is in operational efficiency as even a slight edge – a few percentage points better than competitors – can mean the difference in remaining profitable despite compressed margins.

He said: “The rules of business are that when you can operate cheaper, you should really pass at least 80% to the ultimate client because then you gain in volume.

“If you apply that principle, that allows you to be more competitive and yet you are perfectly rate adequate at a cheaper price than your competitor.”

Gouraud believes that the key drivers boil down to the “use of the data and the operating efficiencies through use of technology, better workflow process [and] better people”.