Industry leaders say data sharing and analysis are the new keys to trust and growth in MGAs
Data has become the most valuable currency in Canada’s commercial insurance marketplace, with managing general agents (MGAs) now expected to leverage insights that go far beyond underwriting basics. At the National Insurance Conference of Canada (NICC), industry leaders said the ability to share, parse, and apply data collaboratively is emerging as a defining factor in MGA relationships with insurers and brokers alike.
Predictive insights from MGAs
Sean Duggan (pictured right), senior vice-president of special risks and claims at KRGinsure, said one of the advantages MGAs bring is their ability to surface predictive insights brokers may not yet see in their own books.
It includes predictive analytics around the types of losses that they’re seeing in a particular class of business that maybe brokers haven’t encountered, Duggan said. “There’s a product opportunity there, or they may be seeing things that we as a broker are about to encounter but are not fully aware of yet.” For Duggan, the data-rich perspective of MGAs doesn’t just protect clients – it also creates openings for brokers to move into new niches. “That’s one of the leading advantages of MGAs: the robust nature of the data that they’re able to extract insights from and inform the broker,” he said.
Carriers want more, not less
On the carrier side, Tammy Parris (pictured centre left), assistant vice-president of corporate underwriting at HSB Canada, said her team actively encourages MGAs to share as much data as possible – even if the MGAs lack in-house analytics capacity. “We are a big fan of data. We will take all the data the MGAs want to give us,” Parris said. “The data we’re getting is a little bit more EV-specific or cyber-specific, which is fantastic, but we want to take whatever they can give us. And if they don’t have the data analysts on their side, we do.”
Parris said that kind of data exchange can reveal blind spots or emerging risks that might otherwise go unnoticed. By collaborating closely with MGAs, carriers can help identify gaps in their datasets and uncover new opportunities for improvement. Stronger data-sharing, she added, is one of the most effective ways to solve common underwriting challenges.
Making data usable
For Stephen Stewart (pictured centre right), president and CEO of Stewart Specialty Risk Underwriting, the real challenge isn’t simply gathering large volumes of information but turning it into insights that every stakeholder in the chain can use effectively.
In highly specialized lines such as property, that means packaging information in ways that reinsurers and carrier partners can plug into catastrophe models. “We do a lot of property business where we take in a lot of data, and we’re able to parse it finely enough that our reinsurance partners can look at it, run it through RMS, and determine what their CAT exposures are,” Stewart said. He noted that this level of refinement gives carrier partners greater confidence in their risk models, offering insights that would be difficult to achieve from direct client data alone. “The more specialized you are, the more easily you can take that data and parse it in a manner that is efficient,” he said.
Transparency back to brokers
Stewart also argued that MGAs should not just collect and analyze data for their own purposes, but share insights back with the broker partners who are feeding them the risks. He said MGAs that provide regular performance feedback to brokers can help identify which segments are driving losses and which are contributing positively to results. That kind of transparency strengthens relationships and helps both sides refine their books of business. He added that this feedback loop should extend beyond property aggregates to casualty trends. “If you write a lot of product exposure, how is that looking? Are you able to determine which products are causing loss right now, and how does that trend?” Stewart said. “If you have the data, you can do it better.”
Toward a ‘SWOT analysis’ culture
Duggan agreed, saying there is still room to deepen the way MGAs and brokers exchange information. Instead of focusing only on financial performance, he believes data findings should become a routine part of relationship reviews. He suggested that performance meetings include data insights alongside financial and underwriting results – effectively creating a data-driven SWOT analysis to highlight key trends, challenges, and opportunities. For him, the next phase of MGA–broker partnerships will be defined less by placement and more by intelligence. “There’s more opportunity to have more dynamic and active dialogue around data between the MGAs and, frankly, other partners and brokers,” Duggan said.
Source: https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/ca/news/technology/forget-pricing–data-is-now-the-real-leverage-in-mga-partnerships-552525.aspx?hsmemberId=contacthsid&tu=CONTACT.EMAILMID&utm_campaign=Editorial-IBC-NS&utm_content=CONTACT.EMAILMID&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&hss_channel=lcp-15154282