E&I WG - MGA Founders - Panel Discussion

London’s insurance market was built by entrepreneurs, and its future depends on the next generation of them. The MGA Founders Series has been developed by the WCI’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Working Group to encourage more people to build new insurance businesses in the UK, and in doing so to strengthen London’s position as the world’s leading centre for specialist insurance.

Managing general agents are already one of the main ways the market grows. Around 40% of Lloyd’s premium now comes through coverholders, and MGA-written premium more than doubled between 2020 and 2024. Yet the route from a good idea to a working MGA is hard to see from inside a carrier or broker, and Lloyd’s turns away around 80% of new business applications. The series brings people thinking about building their own business together with those who have founded, backed and scaled MGAs, so that more good ideas reach the market well prepared.

Across a run of evenings, the series follows the decisions a founder actually faces: the idea, regulation and delegated authority, capital, capacity, operations and claims, and growth and exit.

Session 1, The Idea, asks the first question: what an MGA really is, where the common misconceptions lie, and whether building one is the right path.

Speakers

• Jonathan Newell • Co-Founder and CEO, BareRock
• Paul Andrews • CEO, PoloWorks
• Tim McCosh • Founder and CEO, Yokahu
• Paul Philand • CEO, Vault MGA

Hosted by Hannes Monaghan, Founder, Assured Trade.

The discussion will be held under the Chatham House rule and followed by questions from the room, then drinks and networking.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Understand what an MGA is, how it works with capacity providers, and where common assumptions go wrong
• Hear how founders tested their idea and decided whether building an MGA was the right move
• Recognise the key decisions ahead, from regulation and delegated authority to capital and capacity

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

Underwriters, brokers and product leaders weighing up their own MGA; early-stage founders working through capacity, capital and regulation; and the capacity providers, investors and advisers who back new MGAs.