La Plus ça change
Independent agents again shown to place the majority of all property-casualty insurance written in the U.S.
Independent agents place 62% of all property-casualty insurance written in the U.S., according to the Big “I” 2022 Market Share Report. The annual Market Share Report compiles and analyzes property and casualty premium data and provides insights for agencies and carriers on current market shares by distribution types. Based on 2021 data, this year’s report underlines agents’ continued dominance in commercial lines, with nearly 88% of all commercial lines written premium is placed by the independent agency channel.
While independent agencies are the clear leaders on the commercial side, the independent agencies in the U.S. place 37% of all personal lines premium. Overall, independent agents place approximately 62% of all p-c premium written in the U.S. Of the $765 billion in total premium written in the U.S., personal lines accounts for approximately 50% to the total premiums, just over 38% comes from commercial lines, and the remaining 12% is “unclassified” coverage that cannot be easily categorized as either personal or commercial lines. Independent agents place approximately 85% of this “unclassified” business. “The demise of the independent agency channel has been predicted by various sources for many years, but the Market Share Report affirms the reality that independent agents have and continue to place the majority of all p-c business,” says Chris Boggs, Big “I” vice president of agent development, education and research. “In particular, independent agents continue to prove their dominance in commercial lines.”
Within the top 10 lines written by independent agents, workers’ compensation was the only line that did not see at least some growth in the percentage written by the independent agency channel over the five years ending in 2021. All other lines saw the percentage written by independent agents remain steady or grow.
We present the full report in this issue – agents will be proud of it, but, hopefully, not complacent. SA
