The MGA market is entering 2026 with momentum and higher expectations than ever before. After years of rapid growth driven by hard market conditions, increased capital availability, and rising demand for specialty expertise, the industry is transitioning into a more disciplined phase.
For MGA professionals, this shift does not signal a slowdown. Instead, it marks a recalibration. Carriers, agency partners, reinsurers, and insureds are still looking to MGAs for speed, innovation, and niche underwriting capabilities. What has changed is how success is measured. In 2026, sustainable growth, operational maturity, and strategic clarity will matter as much as top-line expansion.
Below are our key predictions shaping the MGA market in 2026, and what those predictions mean for MGAs planning ahead.
Growth continues but performance and capacity discipline defines success
The MGA model remains a strong engine for premium growth. According to AM Best, premium generated through MGAs and other delegated underwriting authority enterprises grew approximately 15% to nearly $90 billion in 2024, marking the fourth consecutive year of double-digit growth.
However, the tone around growth is shifting. AM Best has revised its outlook for the delegated authority segment from positive to stable, citing moderate growth, tighter renewal economics, and increased scrutiny of delegated partners.
In 2026, growth alone will not be enough. Carrier partners are increasingly focused on underwriting consistency, loss ratio stability, and portfolio discipline. MGAs that can demonstrate sustained performance will be better positioned to secure and retain capacity.
Capacity remains available, but selectivity is intensifying. Fronting arrangements continue to enable growth, with Conning reporting that fronting companies supported more than $18 billion in MGA premium in 2024. At the same time, carriers and reinsurers are differentiating more sharply between MGAs that deliver predictable results and those that rely on favorable market conditions to mask volatility.
Constraints around capacity are increasingly partner-specific rather than market-wide. Even in a well-capitalized market, individual MGAs may lose support if performance, reporting quality, or strategic alignment falters. Underwriting governance is becoming a strategic asset, as loss ratio volatility, authority creep (unintentionally overstepping authority limits in underwriting decisions), and inconsistent results will reshape how capacity is allocated.
In this environment, losing a single key partner can materially alter an MGA’s growth trajectory, reinforcing the importance of disciplined performance and trusted carrier relationships.
Speed and innovation become strategic, not optional
Speed has always been one of the MGA value propositions, but it is becoming even more critical with higher expectations attached in 2026.
Carriers increasingly rely on MGAs to bring products to market faster than traditional models allow. Insureds expect quicker turnaround times, more tailored coverage, and smoother digital experiences. The MGAs that succeed will be those that combine speed with precision.
As far as innovation goes, it will focus less on flashy experimentation and more on practical execution. This includes faster submission intake, more efficient underwriting workflows, quicker product launches, and improved responsiveness to emerging risks.
Speed will be judged less by perception and more by measurable outcomes. Key benchmarks MGAs will increasingly be evaluated on include:
- Time from submission to bind.
- Speed to launch new programs or product enhancements.
- Responsiveness to carrier data and reporting requests.
- Ability to adjust underwriting rules mid-cycle without disruption
MGAs that can consistently deliver on these imperatives will strengthen their value proposition to carriers, agencies, and end insureds.
It’s important to note, however, that speed without governance is not a winning combination. Carriers will expect innovation to be supported by clear underwriting authority, disciplined pricing, and consistent execution.
Technology investment shifts from efficiency to authority protection
In 2026, technology investment for MGAs will increasingly focus on strengthening underwriting decisions while improving speed and consistency across the policy lifecycle. As carrier scrutiny rises and capacity becomes more selective, MGAs will prioritize systems that reinforce authority, enhance predictability, and support scalable growth.
AI and machine learning underwriting tools are playing a growing role in this shift. By embedding AI into risk assessment and pricing models, MGAs can improve predictive accuracy and accelerate decision making without sacrificing discipline. These tools will help identify patterns across portfolios, support more consistent risk selection, and improve loss ratio predictability over time.
At the same time, MGAs will increasingly invest in end-to-end digital platforms built on cloud-based, API-enabled architectures. Centralizing submissions, quoting, binding, endorsements, and renewals within a connected ecosystem will improve operational visibility and reduce handoffs. This approach will also enable cleaner, more seamless integration with carrier and broker systems, supporting faster placement and easier collaboration across the value chain.
Data and analytics infrastructure will become equally critical. Real-time dashboards and standardized reporting will allow MGAs to provide capacity partners with timely insights into performance, exposure, and emerging trends. Having a uniform way of organizing data reduces reconciliation cycles, improves reporting confidence, and reinforces trust with carriers and reinsurers in a more disciplined market.
MGAs are also deploying generative AI capabilities to improve content and data handling, particularly around unstructured information. Automated extraction and summarization of attachments, loss runs, and supporting documentation will reduce manual effort and accelerate underwriting workflows. By improving data quality at intake, MGAs can shorten decision timelines while maintaining accuracy and consistency.
Finally, agent experience is emerging as a key area of investment. MGAs that deliver intuitive digital experiences for agents, including clearer appetite guidance, faster responses, and fewer rework cycles, strengthen distribution relationships, and improve submission quality. Better agent experiences will translate directly into cleaner data, more efficient workflows, stronger underwriting outcomes, and more business.
This year, MGAs are not investing in technology for technology's sake. They are investing to protect underwriting authority, improve decision speed, and meet the rising expectations from carriers, brokers, and insureds alike.
AI becomes embedded in daily operations and judged on outcomes
In 2026, AI will no longer be a future concept for MGAs. It will become part of daily operations. As highlighted in our recent webinar, From hype to impact: The AI balance for MGA efficiency, scale and growth, the industry is moving from experimentation to proven use cases that deliver measurable efficiency and insight.
By the end of 2026, AI will be widely embedded across MGA workflows, particularly in automated underwriting and risk assessment, claims processing, fraud detection, predictive risk analytics, dynamic pricing, and customer service agents and chatbots. These capabilities will allow MGAs to handle growing submission volumes without a proportional increase in staff.
However, AI should not be treated as just an operational hygiene tool. Beyond efficiency gains, AI will increasingly serve as a competitive advantage for leading MGAs, shaping appetite, pricing discipline, and early risk detection. This shifts AI from a cost-saving tool to a growth and risk management differentiator, separating MGAs that are merely keeping up from those who actively pull ahead.
Another key change this year is how AI is evaluated. Adoption alone will no longer be impressive. Carriers and regulators will want to see how AI is governed, how decisions are explained, and how outcomes are monitored.
MGAs that succeed with AI will be those that use it to augment human expertise, not replace it. Clear accountability, explainability, and transparency will be essential to maintain trust with partners.
Prepping for mass retirements and sustainable succession
Over the next 5-10 years, the MGA industry will face a significant wave of retirements that will impact maintaining institutional knowledge, experienced underwriting judgement, and the loss of long-standing relationships. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor estimates 400,000 industry employees retiring by the end of 2026, making succession planning a must over the course of this year.
Preparing for this transition will require more than just backfilling roles. MGAs need to implement formal succession plans that capture as much expertise and industry knowledge as possible before it walks out the door. At the same time, effective succession has to take into account the employees who will remain and be absorbing the retiree’s workload. MGAs that invest early in documentation and automation will be better positioned to preserve continuity, reduce burnout, and build a sustainable next generation of MGA professionals.
Climate volatility continues to expand E&S opportunities
Climate-related loss volatility will remain a powerful force reshaping the insurance market. Swiss Re estimates global insured catastrophe losses reached approximately $107 billion in 2025, reinforcing the long-term impact of severe weather and natural catastrophes on underwriting appetite.
As carriers reassess risk tolerance in catastrophe-prone regions, MGAs continue to play a critical role in developing specialized solutions. Excess and surplus lines, parametric products, and niche programs tailored to specific geographies or industries are all areas where MGAs add value.
In 2026, MGAs with strong analytics, exposure management, and niche underwriting expertise will continue to be well positioned. However, climate volatility also raises the bar for MGAs to holistically manage risks across their portfolio, as connected losses can emerge from a single event across multiple policies. As a result, carriers and reinsurers are reassessing capacity more frequently, often favoring shorter renewal terms, interim reviews, and conditional capacity extensions over long-term commitments – all of which increase the importance of real-time exposure and rapid portfolio adjustment.
Mergers and Acquisitions accelerate, driven by scale and capability gaps
Merger and acquisition activity in the MGA market is expected to remain strong in 2026, driven by several converging forces:
First, scale matters more than it used to. Investments in technology, data infrastructure, compliance, and talent are becoming table stakes, and achieving the ability to operate consistently and in control at higher volumes is becoming more challenging.
Second, well-capitalized MGAs, often backed by private equity, continue to seek niche expertise, geographic expansion, and diversified carrier relationships through acquisition. High-performing MGAs with strong underwriting results and defensible specialties remain attractive targets. In addition, if interest rates continue to fall in 2026, capital costs may decrease as well, making M&As more attractive.
Third, some MGAs will pursue M&A defensively. As capacity becomes more selective and operational expectations rise, joining a larger business can provide access to resources, technology, and stability that would otherwise be difficult to build independently.
This year, M&A activity is likely to be more strategic and performance-driven. Buyers will place greater emphasis on underwriting quality, data maturity, and if there are similar expectations when it comes to governance practices and decision making aligns with their operational model. MGAs that invest now in operational discipline and transparency (e.g. centralized data and reporting structures, automated submission intake, underwriting workflows, etc.) will be better positioned, whether they choose to remain independent or pursue a transaction.
MGA leaders must understand the buyer's lens and whether the goal is acquisition, partnership, or long-term independence. Acquirers are placing a premium on MGAs that demonstrate underwriting consistency, clean and accessible data, diversified capacity relationships, and scalable operating models. Conversely, factors that increasingly undermine valuations include opaque reporting, overreliance on a single carrier, weak governance, and cultural resistance to process discipline.
What will no longer work in 2026
As the MGA market matures, certain practices that were once tolerated, overlooked, or even rewarded are becoming liabilities. MGAs should expect diminishing returns from:
- Relying on informal underwriting judgments without documentation.
- Treating capacity as interchangeable rather than relationship driven.
- Launching programs without operational and reporting readiness.
- Assuming growth will offset volatility.
The MGAs that succeed will be those willing to evolve their operating models alongside the market.
Preparing for 2026 and beyond
The MGA market is not losing momentum, but it is evolving. The defining theme of 2026 is smarter scale. Growth will continue, but it will favor MGAs that balance speed with discipline, innovation with governance, and ambition with strategic clarity.
In this environment, MGAs are no longer just distribution partners. They are operating companies, risk managers, and innovation engines. In a more demanding market, the MGAs that endure will be those that choose discipline early, invest intentionally, and treat trust as their most valuable form of capital.