UK's Managing General Agents’ Association unveils major expansion

The  Managing General Agents’ Association (MGAA) has expanded its membership proposition into the Republic of Ireland as part of an initiative driven by its chief executive Mike Keating (pictured).

The move to enable MGAs, insurers, and suppliers to join the Association is designed to help MGAs in the country drive forward on standards, raise their profile with the regulator and attract new underwriting capacity. It also provides an opportunity for UK-based MGAA members to expand their knowledge of and contacts within the ROI.

Keating said: "The Irish MGA market has been challenging in recent years due to a lack of underwriting capacity in the wake of personal injury claims inflation, broker consolidation and a restrictive regulatory environment under the Central Bank of Ireland in the wake of the 2008 financial crash.

“We believe that opening up our membership to MGAs in the ROI will help the MGA sector in its drive for improved standards and regulatory recognition, whilst helping to facilitate and encourage collaboration and new capacity into the country. The move will also enable MGAs, insurers and suppliers based in the ROI – and our UK-wide membership - to benefit from networking, events, educational forums, webinars, and regulatory support.”

The MGAA’s initiative has been welcomed by the ROI’s professional body, the Institute of Ireland, the insurer trade body, Insurance Ireland, and broker trade body, Brokers Ireland.

Cathie Shannon, director of general insurance, Brokers Ireland commented: "We welcome the MGAA into the ROI, which comes at an important time for our market. The MGAA’s drive to improve standards, combined with the opportunities for networking and dialogue its membership brings, can only support our own Members’ initiatives aimed at attracting more capacity and specialist underwriters into the country, encouraging the establishment of new brokers, and providing more customer choice”.

Moyagh Murdock, CEO of Insurance Ireland, added: “We welcome and support the MGAA’s move into Ireland as MGAs play a key role in bringing capacity to the Irish insurance market at a critical time. The timing could not be better as it coincides with the recent changes to the personal injury claims landscape in Ireland.

“The introduction of the new injury awards guidelines on 24th April this year is playing its part in making Ireland a more attractive place for insurance providers and although it is still early days, we look forward to the new guidelines being applied consistently across the board. We believe that the continued implementation of the Government’s Action Plan for Insurance Reform will result in a more stable sector and will reduce market volatility and bring more certainty for customers and insurers alike. We look forward to working with the MGAA and (Michael Keating) their team in the future.”

Paula Hodson, director of development services at The Institute of Ireland, said: “We look forward to working together with the MGAA in the drive for increased professional standards across the insurance sector.”

Did you get value from this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.