The London Market MGA Conference
What does a resilient, investable and high-performing MGA now need to prove in the current market?
The MGA model remains central to the future of specialty insurance. But the environment they operate in is becoming more demanding.
Capital is flowing, technology is enabling precision that legacy insurers can’t match and London’s dependence on coverholders continues to grow. At the same time, a softer market is changing how performance is judged. Capacity providers are becoming more selective, brokers have greater choice and expectations around governance, underwriting discipline, data quality and operational maturity continue to rise.
The MGA market is contracting and growing at once, whilst simultaneously becoming much more selective.
For established MGAs, the challenge is how to protect and strengthen a business built during favourable conditions. For new entrants, it is understanding what good looks like from day one.
The 2026 MGA Half Day explores these questions through the experiences of the people making and applying those decisions today.
You will hear directly from capacity providers on how they are assessing MGA relationships, from founders who have built, scaled and sold specialist businesses, and from regulators and market representatives on how expectations of delegated authority are evolving.
The focus is practical and commercial: how MGAs can strengthen capacity relationships, improve underwriting performance, use data and technology more effectively, and make better decisions on capital, talent and long-term strategy.
Robin Merttens, Executive Chairman and Co-founder
- 24 speakers now confirmed, up from 16 in June, across five main-stage panels and three breakout tracks.
- CJ Przybyl, Co-Founder and CEO of Reserv, joins the programme on why vendors still charge six-figure licensing fees for AI models that are now widely available, and what Reserv’s compute-cost-plus pricing changes.
- Capital diversification panel confirmed: Ben Laidlaw (Carbon), Philippa Berry (CFC Underwriting) and Jane Fenton (Gallagher Re) join, moderated by Rebecca Ince (Carbon).
- Tom Wilde, CEO of Indico Data, added to the afternoon breakouts on why MGA growth stalls at the front door, not in underwriting.
- New breakout announced: “What next in Smart Follow?” with Daniel Prince (Augentic) and Nick Aristidou (Liberty Specialty Markets) on where the market is heading by 2027.
Highlights from 2025
Key themes for 2026
The issues that will shape which MGAs strengthen, adapt and grow in the next phase of the market.
The cycle is familiar. What matters now is how MGAs, carriers and brokers are responding as capacity becomes more selective and performance scrutiny increases.
You will hear directly from capacity providers on how they are evaluating MGA relationships in the current market: what they look for beyond the loss ratio, how expectations on reporting and oversight are shifting and where the balance of leverage changes when terms tighten. The focus is on practical approaches to capacity resilience, from multi-carrier structures and long-term agreements to the operating evidence needed to support those conversations.
Most MGAs already understand the efficiency case for better technology. The more interesting question is how data and AI improve underwriting judgement, portfolio steering and exposure management.
This theme moves beyond process automation to look at where technology is changing the quality of underwriting decisions. Sessions will examine real-time visibility, portfolio-level insight, data infrastructure, algorithmic underwriting as a service and the practical difference between faster administration and better risk selection.
MGAs are built for different outcomes: long-term independence, platform growth, acquisition, consolidation or eventual transition into something closer to an insurer. Each path brings different decisions on capital, culture, talent, technology and control.
You will hear from founders and leaders who have built, scaled, sold or transformed MGA businesses, with a focus on the choices that made those businesses resilient, profitable and attractive to capacity providers, investors or acquirers. The theme will also cover capital diversification, patient capital, buy-and-build strategies and the growing role of US investment in the London MGA market.
The delegated authority model continues to grow, but so do expectations around governance, controls, reporting and accountability. For many MGAs, the question is not whether oversight is increasing, but how to manage it without losing agility.
This theme will examine how Lloyd’s, regulators, carriers and the wider ecosystem are approaching delegated authority in practice. It will also address the tension between the market’s stated support for MGAs and the operational reality of building, scaling and governing one.
The successful MGA of 2030 will be shaped by decisions being made now: where to invest, how to use technology, which capacity relationships to prioritise, how to attract underwriting talent and what kind of business the founders are ultimately building.
The closing discussions will look at how the model is evolving across technology, talent, distribution, capacity and capital. The focus is on what will differentiate the leaders in five years’ time, and what today’s leadership teams need to think through before those choices become harder to reverse.
Snapshot of the speaker line-up
The questions the market hasn’t answered yet
Does every successful MGA eventually become a full-stack insurer?
The MGA model has proved it can create substantial value without taking balance sheet risk. Yet as businesses mature, many founders begin to ask whether the next stage of growth lies in remaining a specialist MGA or taking greater control of capital and risk. What is the best next step for your business?
Do carriers actually care if you an AI native business?
Should MGA founders build for exit, or build for endurance?
Not every MGA is built for the same destination. Some founders are creating businesses designed for acquisition, while others are building independent underwriting franchises for the long term. Each approach brings different decisions on capital, ownership, investment, governance and growth. We’ll explore how those strategic choices shape the future of an MGA, examining whether businesses should optimise for saleability, long-term independence or something in between, and what each path means for founders, investors and capacity providers.
The market’s best underwriters are no longer looking solely for a platform to write business. They are looking for a platform to build something meaningful. Autonomy, culture, access to technology, decision-making authority and the opportunity to shape a business have become as important as financial reward.
We’ll explore what attracts entrepreneurial underwriters to one MGA over another, how founders create an environment where talent wants to stay and build, and why people may become the most enduring competitive advantage in the delegated underwriting market.
Who should attend
This conference is designed for senior decision-makers across the delegated underwriting market, including:
- MGA founders, CEOs and senior leadership teams
- CUOs, COOs and CFOs at MGAs
- Delegated authority heads and portfolio managers at Lloyd’s syndicates and London Market carriers
- Brokers working closely with the MGA market
- Investors and private equity firms actively investing in delegated underwriting businesses
- Actuaries and pricing leads serving the delegated authority market
- Claims TPAs, accelerators and professional services firms with MGA clients
If your role involves building, backing, managing or supporting MGA businesses, this event will help you understand what the next phase of the market demands.
Who you’ll be in the room with
In 2025, 350 senior decision-makers joined us for half a day to explore The bridge to the future of specialty insurance. The event sold out.
This year we will welcome 350 attendees and 35+ speakers for a full day of discussion and networking focused on the future of MGAs — a senior audience drawn from carriers, reinsurers, brokers, MGAs, TPAs and insurtechs across the UK and Europe.
Why this is a must-attend event
A full day of practical insight, honest discussion and high-value connections for the MGA market.
An independent perspective 
As an independent business, InsTech is able to ask the questions the market is already debating privately. The programme is not shaped by the priorities of a trade body, membership organisation or individual commercial interest.
Building a successful MGA requires more than strong underwriting. Capacity, technology, governance, talent, capital, regulation and distribution all influence long-term performance, and decisions in one area often have consequences across the business. Rather than focusing on individual topics in isolation, the programme brings together the entire ecosystem to explore how these decisions connect and what they mean for sustainable growth.
Most MGA leaders already understand the market context. The more valuable conversation is what to do next. Every session is designed around the strategic and commercial decisions founders, executives and capacity providers are making today. Technology is discussed as part of those decisions, not as an end in itself. The focus is on how data, AI and digital capability improve underwriting performance, strengthen businesses and create measurable commercial outcomes.
Hear directly from capacity providers
Focused on what comes next
The insurance cycle is well understood. The more important question is how the MGA model continues to evolve as technology advances, capital becomes more selective and expectations increase across the market. The programme is designed to look beyond today’s conditions and explore the decisions that will shape the next generation of MGA businesses, helping delegates prepare for the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.
An InsTech community event
Bringing together those with an interest in risk and insurance, InsTech is a community that connects the insurance ecosystem. Our global network of over 30,000 senior insurance professionals and 150+ Corporate Members consists of large enterprises, early-stage start-ups and everything in between. We run over 100 live and digital events each year.
Cavendish Venues, The Minster Building, EC3R
Located in the heart of London’s vibrant financial district, The Minster Building offers a newly opened event space. Featuring expansive 5-metre floor-to-ceiling windows that let in ample natural light, the space includes a dedicated main stage, three breakout rooms for parallel sessions, and generous areas designed for seamless networking.
Nearest Tube: Bank, Monument, Tower Hill. Nearest Overground: Fenchurch Street, Cannon Street
Plenary
8:30 am – 10:25 am
8:30 am - 9:15 am
Breakfast and registration
9:15 am - 9:25 am
Welcome and opening remarks
- Robin Merttens, Executive Chairman, InsTech
9:25 am - 9:50 am
Fireside chat: building Flock - Ed Leon Klinger in conversation with Robin Merttens
Ed Leon Klinger, CEO and co-founder of Flock, talks about his ten years at the helm of Flock from founding the business through its £80 million sale to Admiral this year. The discussion will focus on all the things that can and often do go wrong at an MGA. Ed will share his experience and survival techniques through five existential crises: running out of money, losing capacity, a complete rebuild of the technology, a pivot of the business model and unsustainable loss ratios.
Speaker(s)
- Ed Leon Klinger, CEO, Flock
- Moderated by Robin Merttens, Executive Chairman, InsTech
9:50 am - 10:15 am
Carrier expectations: data quality, reporting and MGA accountability
What capacity providers now expect from MGAs on data, reporting and operational standards. Covers how carriers evaluate and differentiate between MGAs, the technology available to meet rising expectations and how soft market leverage changes the consequences of falling short.
Speaker(s)
- Rob Jarvis, Divisional Head of Innovation and Portfolio Underwriting, Tokio Marine Kiln
- Caroline Johnston, Head of Delegated Authority Oversight, Atrium
- Victoria Andrews, Group Head of Delegated Oversight, Chaucer Group
- Moderated by: Madeline Bailey, Executive Principal, InsTech
Breakout sessions (A1/A2/A3)
10:25 am – 10:55 am
Three parallel sponsor-led workshops (30-minutes each). These are hands-on, interactive sessions with technology demonstrations and practical takeaways.
10:25 am - 10:55 am
What next in Smart Follow?
Hear the latest from a broker, underwriter and MGA facilitator on what projects they are currently working on and how they see the market evolving as we approach 2027.
Speaker(s)
- Daniel Prince, CEO, Augentic
- Nick Aristidou, Head of Autofollow, Liberty Specialty Markets
10:25 am - 10:55 am
Does delegated underwriting have a plumbing problem?
Delegated underwriting still runs on late, backward-looking bordereaux in inconsistent formats, with no market-wide standard and much of the reconciliation left to people. This session looks at how a new generation of infrastructure and integration tools is fixing the problem at source – helping MGAs capture better data and share it in real time – and downstream, by moving data between systems with less manual intervention.
10:25 am - 10:55 am
Breakout session A3
Plenary
10:55 am – 2:00 pm
10:55 am - 11:30 am
Networking break
11:30 am - 11:55 am
Capital diversification and the resilient MGA
Practical routes to successful capital diversification – multi-carrier strategies, long-term capacity agreements, fronting and reinsurance access and patient capital structures that survive a full cycle. This session will also cover what underpins those conversations with capacity providers and investors: the quality of the technology stack, the underwriting and operational talent and the 360-degree view across underwriting, claims and operations.
Speaker(s)
- Ben Laidlaw, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Carbon
- Philippa Berry, Head of Portfolio Partnerships, CFC Underwriting
- Jane Fenton, Executive Director, Gallagher Re
- Moderated by Rebecca Ince, COO, Carbon
11:55 am - 12:20 pm
Secrets to success: lessons building, scaling and selling
What CEOs who have recently grown, sold or transformed their MGA businesses have learnt along the way – and what they did to make those businesses attractive to capacity providers, investors and acquirers. This session will cover the decisions that defined growth, the mistakes to avoid, the operational and cultural choices that drove profitability and the factors that ultimately made the business saleable.
Speaker(s)
- Graham Elliott, CEO, Crux Underwriting
- Jamie Martin, CCO, Vave
- Jonathan Spry, CEO, Envelop Risk
- Moderated by Robin Merttens, Executive Chairman, InsTech
12:20 pm - 12:45 pm
Regulatory oversight of MGAs: PRA, FCA and Lloyd's
How regulators are responding to the persistent growth of delegated authority. Covers current and anticipated interventions, what MGAs need to demonstrate on controls and governance, and how the regulatory environment affects business planning and capacity relationships.
Speaker(s)
- Callum Alexander, Director of Delegated Authority, Lloyd’s of London
- Michael Keating, CEO, MGAA
- Charlotte Gregory, Partner – Financial Services & Insurance, Capital Law
- Moderated by Robin Merttens, Executive Chairman, InsTech
12:45 pm - 2:00 pm
Lunch
Breakout sessions (B1/B2/B3)
2:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Three parallel sponsor-led workshops (30-minutes each). These are hands-on, interactive sessions with technology demonstrations and practical takeaways.
2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Building the modern MGA team: talent, skills and culture for 2030
As underwriting shifts from relationship-led to data-driven portfolio management, MGAs are now competing as hard for technology, data and compliance talent as they are for star underwriters. This session covers what works in drawing people from established insurers through agility, culture and equity, what MGAs can offer graduates that banking, law and consulting cannot, and practical steps on training and incentives, followed by a Q&A.
2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Delegated underwriting reimagined: claims data, AI models and the new price of risk
Claims data and technology stop being cost lines and start driving profit exactly when the market softens and the pressure shifts from growth to quality of underwriting. Fresh from Reserv’s latest announcement, this session unpacks what these developments mean for the market – and for MGAs in particular. Now that frontier LLMs are widely accessible, why do so many vendors still charge six-figure licensing and “wrapper” fees? This webinar will reveal the thinking behind Reserv’s compute-cost-plus model, the outcomes it is seeing and what it changes for every vendor an MGA works with.
Speaker(s)
- CJ Przybyl, Co-Founder & CEO, Reserv
2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
The front door advantage: how MGAs turn submission shambles into market-cycle resilience
MGAs are built for speed, specialisation, and responsiveness. But in every market cycle, the real advantage starts before underwriting. It starts at the front door.
Every submission, email, attachment, loss run, SOV, bordereau and broker request enters through that front door. Too often, that is where growth slows down: messy documents, manual triage, incomplete data, unclear routing, and underwriters spending too much time preparing work instead of judging risk.
This session will explore why the front door has become a strategic operating layer for modern MGAs, and how AI, automation, and intake orchestration can help teams respond faster, identify good risk earlier, improve submission quality, and scale premium growth without scaling headcount at the same rate. In a hard market, the front door determines how quickly you can capture opportunity. In a soft market, it determines how selectively and efficiently you can compete. In any market cycle, the front door is where MGA advantage begins.
Speaker(s)
- Tom Wilde, CEO, Indico Data
Plenary
2:40 pm – 4:00 pm
2:40 pm - 3:05 pm
Consolidation, M&A and the buy-and-build MGA
How acquisitive MGAs and MGA platforms are approaching consolidation as the market matures, and how founders are thinking about capital, growth and exit at the same time. Covers the buy-and-build model, what makes an acquisition target genuinely complementary versus superficially attractive and the integration challenges that are rarely discussed. The session will also look at the founder side of the same equation: what investors are looking for in the current environment and what founders need to demonstrate on data, capacity and growth trajectory.
3:05 pm - 3:25 pm
The carrier-owned MGA: strategy or disguise?
Some of the most talked-about “MGAs” in London are now owned by insurers. Some have split their underwriting from their balance sheet, others are building MGA arms of their own, and follow syndicates blur the line further. When a capacity provider also runs an MGA, is it a genuinely different business or the same activity relabelled? What does it mean for the independents competing for the same capacity?
Speaker(s)
- Sam Knee-Robinson, VP – Global Capital and Emerging Risk Solutions, Guy Carpenter
3:25 pm - 4:00 pm
Networking break
Breakout sessions (C1/C2/C3)
4:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Three parallel sponsor-led workshops (30-minutes each). These are hands-on, interactive sessions with technology demonstrations and practical takeaways.
Plenary
4:40 pm – 6:30 pm
4:40 pm - 5:10 pm
The MGA ecosystem in 2030: technology, talent and the path ahead
A forward-looking panel bringing together MGA founders, capacity providers and technology leaders to assess where the market is heading. What will the successful MGA look like in five years and what capabilities will differentiate winners from followers?
Speaker(s)
- George Beattie, Head of Innovation, CFC Underwriting
- James Gadbury, Divisional Director – Binders and Programmes, Costero Brokers
- Jeremy Brown, Investment Principal, Anthemis
- Moderated by Madeline Bailey, Executive Principal, InsTech
5:10 pm - 5:20 pm
Closing remarks
- Robin Merttens, Executive Chairman, InsTech
5:20 pm - 6:30 pm
Drinks reception and networking
6:30 pm
Event finish
Speakers
Charlotte Gregory
Partner - Financial Services & Insurance
Ed Leon Klinger
CEO
Victoria Andrews
Group Head of Delegated Oversight
Jeremy Brown
Investment Principal
Michael Keating
CEO
Callum Alexander
Director of Delegated Authority
Caroline Johnston
Head of Delegated Authority Oversight
George Beattie
Head of Innovation
Graham Elliott
CEO
Jamie Martin
CCO
Jane Fenton
Executive Director
Rob Jarvis
Divisional Head of Innovation and Portfolio Underwriting
Sam Knee-Robinson
VP - Global Capital and Emerging Risk Solutions
Jonathan Spry
CEO
James Gadbury
Divisional Director - Binders and Programmes
CJ Przybyl
Co-Founder & CEO
Daniel Prince
CEO and Founder
Nick Aristidou
Head of Autofollow
Tom Wilde
CEO
Ben Laidlaw
Co-Founder and Managing Director
Philippa Berry
Head of Portfolio Partnerships
Rebecca Ince
COO
Sponsors
Azur Technology
Azur Technology is an insurance technology provider built by former MGA operators and underwriters who’ve lived the workflows they build for. Their platform, MGA Connect, is the end-to-end AI-enabled operating system for MGAs, automating the full underwriting lifecycle from submission to policy admin to bordereaux. With MGA Connect, ambitious MGAs run larger books without scaling headcount, quote faster, and close month-end without the scramble.
Carbon Underwriting
Carbon is a delegated underwriting specialist combining deep market expertise with innovative technology to build tailored, long-term capacity solutions for MGAs and delegated partners. Since 2018, we’ve worked closely with coverholders, brokers, reinsurers and capital to build strong sustainable partnerships and profitable growth through collaborative underwriting. Our in-house platform, Graphene, gives real-time portfolio insight, helping underwriters make faster, more confident decisions. Carbon Underwriting Limited operates as Syndicate CBN 4747 at Lloyd’s.
PKF Littlejohn
PKF Littlejohn – an insurance specialist accountancy, tax and advisory firm – are experts in advising MGAs, from start-ups to global groups, and at all stages of the MGA lifecycle. Their team brings deep experience from across the delegated authority landscape. They’ve supported founders, owners and investors through growth, authorisation and exit.
PKF Littlejohn will be hosting a free drop-in session at the conference, offering 30-minute, 1:1 slots with members of their expert Insurance team. You can request a time slot when the breakout registrations open four weeks before the event.
Reserv
Reserv is an AI-enabled third-party administrator redefining the property and casualty insurance claims industry. Since its launch three years ago, the company has become a leader in leveraging and building technology to modernize claims handling, all while humanizing the customer experience. By creating practical and actionable AI tools and AI orchestration infrastructure for claims professionals, Reserv provides greater transparency to policyholders, strengthens quality assurance in claims, and improves the way adjusters work. Not only has Reserv built the ecosystem that powers adjusters, but they have also developed the most advanced data ecosystem to empower the best claims-adjusting talent. Reserv has now scaled to support more than 100+ carriers, MGAs, and self-insured organizations, driving efficiency and creating a lasting competitive advantage across the industry.
V7
V7 operationalises AI technology for insurance businesses. Its reasoning engine enables users to automate processes with foundation models that interrogate, augment, and transform data across documents, images and videos. It has pre-configured templates for submission ingestion, claims processing, SOVs, engineering reports, bordereaux and more. Its mission is to automate the most complex tasks, reliably and at scale.
Indico Data
From research breakthrough to real-world impact Indico was founded on the belief that the most valuable data in the enterprise is often the hardest to use. While legacy automation tools focused on simple forms and fields, our founders focused on unstructured content, the contracts, claims, reports, and submissions that power real business decisions. We built Indico to change that. What started as a research breakthrough in machine learning is now a purpose-built Intake & Orchestration Platform used by global insurers to modernize how work enters and moves through the enterprise.
Aspect MGA
Aspect MGA brings a new perspective to insurance. The business specialises in underwriting difficult risks that other insurers avoid. Its expertise, flexibility and focus enable it to offer terms tailored specifically to each risk. Aspect MGA aims to be the most convenient market for brokers, offering comprehensive solutions where other underwriters won’t. Above all, the business is driven by a clear purpose: to leave the world a better place than it found it. Complex risk. Simply covered.
Registration
Organisations that are Corporate Members are eligible for a discounted rate. To find out if your organisation is a corporate member, please visit the members page.
Early Bird Offer: Save £50 per ticket until 21 August
- £200 – InsTech Corporate Members (Insurer/Broker/MGA) (usually £250)
- £300 – InsTech Corporate Members (All other sectors) (usually £350)
- £300 – Insurer/Broker/MGA Non-Members (usually £350)
- £700 – All other companies (usually £750)
How to apply discounts
When registering three or more delegates, select the number of passes on the “Additional People” page. A discount code will be shown automatically on the payments page — just enter it to apply your savings.
For any assistance, please contact us at [email protected]
Insurers, Brokers and MGAs (InsTech Corporate Members)
£250
£200 until 21 August
+VAT
Insurers, brokers and MGAs who are InsTech Corporate Members.
Insurers, Brokers, MGAs
£350
£300 until 21 August
+ VAT.
Insurers, brokers and MGAs who are not InsTech Corporate Members.
InsTech Corporate Members (All other sectors)
£350
£300 until 21 August
+ VAT.
InsTech Corporate Members from all other sectors (technology, data, consulting, etc.)
All other sectors
£750
£700 until 21 August
+ VAT.
All other companies without InsTech membership.
