Calling All Managing General Agents to Guernsey

Guernsey said its captive insurance, reinsurance, insurance-linked securities, and longevity risk transfer insurance infrastructure provides opportunities for managing general agents (MGAs), and the captive domicile is moving to develop its managing general agents sector following a recent visit from the UK-based Managing General Agents' Association (MGAA).

Key factors important for MGA opportunities include the island's technology, insurance expertise, access to alternative capital markets, and approach to regulation.

"I liked the approach we heard about and the ambition Guernsey is showing in this space," said MGAA Managing Director Peter Staddon. "Guernsey clearly gets what MGAs are all about."

There are more than 300 MGAs in the United Kingdom, underwriting about 10 percent of the UK general insurance market's £47 billion in premium income. Classified by regulators as intermediaries, MGAs provide underwriting for insurers who want to access niche markets without the cost and resources needed to underwrite these lines of business themselves, and they give brokers a wider range of products and insurer options.

The MGAA was formed in 2011 and represents and supports three-quarters of the UK MGA market. Guernsey currently has a handful of MGAs active on the island, according to a statement from Guernsey Finance.

"We see MGAs as a natural fit for us, as we already have everything the MGAs need," said Dominic Wheatley, chief executive of Guernsey Finance, the promotional agency for the Guernsey finance industry.

He continued, "Entrepreneurial underwriters with capital lined up and a market position to leverage can come to Guernsey and find a high-quality insurance environment ideally placed to help develop an MGA."

Pictured above left to right are MGAA Managing Director Peter Staddon, Guernsey International Insurance Association Working Group Chair Charles Scott, MGAA Founder David Coupe, and Guernsey Finance Chief Executive Dominic Wheatley. Photo is courtesy of Guernsey Finance.