Clyde & Co Breakfast Briefing: Elevating Standard in a Soft Market

This recently held Clyde & Co Breakfast Briefing in the Old Library at Lloyd’s brought together MGAs, carriers, legal experts and market practitioners for a candid discussion on how to strengthen claims oversight and customer outcomes in a softening market. MGAA CEO Michael Keating chaired the session, guiding a conversation that explored the realities MGAs are facing as claims complexity rises, fraud evolves, and governance expectations continue to tighten across the delegated authority landscape.

A clear theme ran through the entire discussion: data, data, data. The industry is sitting on huge amounts of valuable information, yet we are still only beginning to tap into its potential to improve outcomes, strengthen oversight and reduce the impact of insurance fraud. As Damian Rourke of Clyde & Co observed during the discussion, “even though we have seen the volume of claims plummet since Covid it does not mean the challenges are not as strong as they always were.”

While claims volumes have fallen since the pandemic, the panel highlighted that behavioural risk, fraud sophistication and process weaknesses remain major challenges and without accurate, timely management information, these issues become harder to detect and manage. Rourke also noted that fraudsters are often opportunistic rather than cyclical, explaining that “people are not waiting for a soft or hard market to commit fraud, but they are looking for a weakness in the process.”

Speakers also reflected on the pressures shaping MGA operations today. Claims inflation continues to rise, particularly in bodily injury; customer expectations are increasing; and third-party suppliers such as credit hire firms and legal representatives are becoming more commercially aggressive. At the same time, commercial premiums are dropping by around 10 to 12 per cent, putting pressure on margins and making strong governance more important than ever.

Market dynamics also influence behaviour across the claims ecosystem. As Dean Witherington of Wakam noted during the panel, “claims are often driven by market conditions, and there are several parties involved who are all looking to make money from the claim.” In a softening market, these pressures can expose weaknesses in processes and oversight if governance frameworks are not strong enough.

Throughout the debate, the panellists explored how MGAs can strengthen oversight across their delegated portfolios. Key topics included the integrity of the claims ecosystem, alignment between MGAs, TPAs and carriers, and the importance of embedding claims thinking earlier in the underwriting and onboarding process. Ian Lloyd of Iprism also highlighted the operational pressures that exist in real-world claims environments, noting that “there is often pressure on speed and brokers will naturally push for that on behalf of their clients.”

There was also lively discussion around the growing role of data, analytics and large language models in fraud detection, pattern recognition and governance, alongside the need for clear accountability under delegated authority arrangements. While claims handling can be delegated, the panel reinforced that responsibility for oversight ultimately remains with the MGA.

The recurring message was that robust data and MI are now essential to effective oversight. Without visibility of TPA performance, fraud indicators, claim lifecycle patterns or early trend signals, MGAs cannot fairly price risk, manage exposure or deliver strong customer outcomes. As Rourke noted, real progress in the coming years is likely to come from better use of data and more transparent sharing of insight across the claims ecosystem.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us, and to our speakers Damian Rourke of Clyde & Co, Dean Witherington of Wakam and Ian Lloyd of Iprism. It was a candid and practical discussion on how MGAs can strengthen trust, transparency and tactical claims management in a competitive and challenging market.