Top 50 Brokers: Insurance broking’s ‘bubble’ effect freezes top 10 ranking

The UK’s largest insurance brokers have become increasingly insulated from domestic market pressures, with the top 10 firms in terms of scale operating in a “bubble” shaped by international expansion and historic consolidation activity.

This feedback was discussed in a webinar hosted by Insurance Times on 25 February 2026, in association with Cowbell, based on the findings and results from Insurance Times’ 2025 Top 50 Brokers report. This was published in November 2025 based on data from consultancy MarshBerry.

John Nisbet, managing director at MarshBerry, said during last month’s webinar that the 2025 top 50 broker ranking showed an unusual level of stability at the top of the annual list.

“What was interesting versus previous years is that there was less change,” he continued. “The top 10 didn’t change at all [year-on-year]. Exactly the same.”

Nisbet added that the largest brokers’ scale now made meaningful movement in the annual business ranking difficult without further transformative acquisitions taking place.

He explained: “To move from position eight to position five, you have to buy something like £300m or £500m. Those deals just haven’t been happening recently.

“The top 10 is obviously now in a bubble because of international aspirations and M&A from some of the biggest groups.”

Pointing to firms such as Howden Group, Nisbet noted that rapid business growth was often driven by overseas activity rather than UK retail expansion. He said: “When you see Howden and The Ardonagh Group in the top five and growing at 15% or 20% a year, that’s not reflective of UK domestic broking growth. A lot of that is acquisitions in Spain or Hong Kong or Australia.”

This dynamic means that the Top 50 Brokers report is increasingly having to blend UK and global performance, rather than simply showcasing the UK general insurance (UKGI) heartland that Insurance Times typically focuses on. “We’re not actually getting an apples with apples comparison,” Nisbet said.

Below the top tier of UK brokers, ranked 11 onwards, consolidation remains a defining feature – but the pace has shifted. Robert Organ, group chief executive at intermediary Jensten Group, told webinar attendees: “The economics have changed. Debt isn’t priced as it was previously.”

He explained that the buy and build consolidation model has become more complex to execute in a higher cost of capital environment. Organ added: “In a world absent of very affordable capital, it is slightly more challenged. The soft market that we’ve all moved into has only made [it] harder.”

Changing winds ahead

MarshBerry’s July 2025 UK broking update supports Organ’s view, reporting that M&A volumes were down 35% year-on-year and that domestic consolidation had “markedly slowed”.

Organ stressed that acquisitional opportunity remains, however, with around 2,500 brokers still operating in the UK – but that M&A linked priorities are shifting. “Internal integration matters are probably higher up on [boards’] list of priorities than they might have been [compared] to inorganic growth,” he said. “There are a number of moving parts that are affecting the pace of change.”

Overall market conditions are also testing organic growth ambitions. Citing softening rates and abundant capacity, Nisbet observed: “Organic growth has never been easy. [UKGI is] a mature, highly penetrated sector. The soft market that we are experiencing in 2025 will not really be seen in the figures of the [next] Top 50 Brokers report. Next year, it will become clearly more of a factor.”

Organ added: “When the winds calm down and you’ve got to paddle your own way, it becomes much harder. If the market’s not growing through rate, then you’ve got to grow your market share, or help grow the market.”

Against this backdrop, MGAs are playing a strategic role. “All the major consolidated platforms like to have an MGA platform,” Nisbet said. “When you get up to £400m or £500m of premium, it makes absolute sense.”

Organ, whose business does include MGAs, agreed: “It complements our business model. It gives us the ability to selectively manufacture and participate in that side of the sector.”

While debt levels and market softness are under scrutiny, Nisbet was clear about the resilience of the largest players. “None of them are going to blow up. Things would have to go quite far aside for the businesses that are in the top 10 to blow up.”

For the UK’s biggest brokers, scale remains both a shield and strategy.