MGAs and Actuaries in 2026: The State of the Market

A market shifting toward deeper analytical capability, greater independence and stronger actuarial demand.

Actuarial insight is no longer an “insurer-only” capability. For MGAs, it is increasingly part of the commercial operating system: how portfolios are priced, monitored, defended and adjusted as performance emerges.

To understand how this is evolving across the UK market, InsTech has published MGAs and Actuaries in 2026: The State of the Market, produced in collaboration with Broadstone and based on responses from 98 UK MGAs.

The headline: over 70% of MGAs now use actuarial input for pricing, underwriting and claims decisions. This is no longer back-office work – it’s embedded in front-line commercial decisions.

Key findings:

• Capability scales with size. MGAs with in-house actuaries deploy expertise across 1.7x more areas than those without.
• In-house is increasingly common, but most teams still rely on external support: Over half of MGAs (58%) have some in-house actuarial capacity and many still draw on external support.
• But there isn’t a single operating model: 42% external-only, 35% hybrid, 23% primarily in-house.
• Data is still the choke point: respondents report data preparation often takes 40–50% of actuarial effort.

What’s inside:

• How MGAs use actuarial expertise across pricing, underwriting performance, claims trends, reserving support, cat/exposure and data science.
• How MGAs access capability: in-house, external and hybrid approaches—and how this changes with size.
• External provider landscape and what MGAs value (project-based support, capacity-provider input, specialist skills).
• Practical implications for scaling MGAs: capability gaps, economics and common transition paths.

Who this report is for:

• MGA CEOs/COOs and underwriting leadership.
• Finance leaders and portfolio performance owners.
• Actuarial, analytics and data teams working in or with MGAs.
• Capacity providers, brokers and investors assessing MGA maturity.