PAs and MGAs


Program administrators may be a subset of the market for managing general agents, but it’s a sizable portion.


As far as the wholesaler market goes you’re talking about less than 5,000 agents.


Glenn Clark, Rockwood Programs and Target Markets Founder


A fundamental difference between a managing general agent (MGAs) and a program administrator is that MGAs generally focus on specialized insurance products while program administrators typically focus on specialized industries often working exclusively with one insurer per individual program, Richard Augustyn said.


Estimates of the size of the market for insurance programs is likely an educated guess, but that estimate may soon become better- educated. The Target Markets organization is commissioning surveys of program administrators and carriers with an eye toward releasing more defi nitive totals about the program market, Glenn Clark said.


Clark estimates that 2,000 or less insurance agencies currently are permitted to underwrite on behalf of a carrier, with about 1,200 empowered to underwrite more than $5 million worth of coverage on behalf of a carrier.


Clark estimates the total number of wholesalers in the U.S. stands at about 5,000.


Although Target Markets is setting out on a study, Clark admits that no research can ever be exact. The reasons are that carriers are typically reluctant to share proprietary data and even program administrators will likely share data only on an anonymous or perhaps an aggregated basis.


Copyright © 2010 by A.M. Best Company, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this report may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means; electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise.


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