Australia now has more than 300 underwriting agencies after their number increased, according to some sources, by more than 12% last financial year. In line with the rise, this month's UAC Sydney Market Exchange saw a record number of agencies present – more than 170. This constant growth can be a pre-occupation for brokers as they try to stay ahead of the competition by keeping up with new offerings that may have solutions to soft market challenges and also methods to ease the cost crunch facing customers.
“A lot of insurers and agencies are fighting to keep their book but also branching out into new markets,” said Steve Mison (pictured left with colleague Kye Ibbotson) director of Ardent Insurance Solutions. “If we are not keeping up with that, then we might miss some opportunities.”
He said the work is not simply knowing who exists - it’s maintaining relationships and tracking, he said, “where people are moving to and from”. In a market where the edges matter, those personnel shifts can change appetite, turnaround times and ultimately whether a broker can deliver a win for a client at renewal.
The irony is that this soft market capacity and competition, while good news for buyers, creates more complexity for brokers.
“It is certainly a lot more work,” said Mison. “You need to remarket a fair bit more and you might come under attack more often than not.”
The latest Marsh Global Insurance Market Index showed global commercial rates continued to fall by 4% in Q4 2025 following falls of up to 14% the previous quarter. That’s a headline clients like but it also means they expect their broker to shop harder, more often and to explain why one quote is cheaper and whether that price comes with strings attached.
Aon’s Q4 2025 Global Insurance Market Insights similarly described conditions as soft overall, with “double-digit reductions” common in the Pacific and a Pacific pricing range of -11% to -20% alongside “abundant” capacity and “flexible” underwriting. In practice, that is a recipe for constant movement: new entrants, expanded appetites, aggressive approaches to win share and a broader set of options that brokers must triage quickly.
Mison’s point about changing appetite captures the strategic risk for brokers: insurers and agencies are “fighting to keep their book” while also branching into new segments. If a broker doesn’t keep pace, they can miss opportunities and, in a market where clients are being actively targeted, that gap can quickly become a lost account.
Soft markets also create a different kind of client management problem: expectations. Mison suggested that one of the most important conversations brokers can have right now isn’t about squeezing an extra few points out of the premium - it’s about explaining the cycle and the trade-offs being made under the surface.
“It is about positioning and putting them with the right carrier now, with the right coverage, so when the rates do increase, they are best placed,” he said. The broker’s job is to do that positioning while capacity is plentiful, so clients aren’t scrambling for terms after the turn.
The data points to why that warning matters. The Marsh index notes the current downtrend is being driven by growing insurer competition, a favourable loss environment and reinsurance pricing, plus increased capacity - conditions that can change. And while many commercial lines are easing, some risks remain structurally difficult. Marsh reported global casualty rates increased 4% in Q4 2025, driven by a 9% increase in the US tied to claim severity and large jury awards. Even for Australian clients, that kind of global claims inflation can bleed into insurer risk appetite, reinsurance costs and portfolio decisions.
Against that backdrop, brokers are increasingly trying to shift clients away from a price-only mindset. Mison said cost pressure is constant - in hard or soft markets - because “most businesses are under pressure with costs all around”. Ardent, he said, tries to educate customers early that it’s not just premium: it’s coverage, claims service and the “holistic offering” from each insurer.
Risk management is the other lever brokers want on the table earlier - partly because it can unlock better terms now, and partly because it builds resilience for later. Mison’s manufacturing clients - from wineries to food and beverage and electronics - are a case in point: the hardest part about placing these risks is demonstrating “mature” risk management to underwriters. The submission needs up-to-date surveys, test results (including flow tests), and a narrative that makes an underwriter say: this is a risk we want.
That mindset - “selling the risk, not buying insurance” - is also how brokers defend their relevance as technology advances. Mison argued that SME and below will be “automated and taken over by AI-powered direct offerings” within five years, leaving brokers to compete hardest in mid-market and complex placements where risk presentation, data quality and proactive mitigation drive outcomes.
Together, the soft market and the rising number of agencies are a test of broker discipline and their ability to resist the urge to treat price as the only KPI and instead using competition to improve terms and build client understanding of the cycle. Brokers who can do that will be the ones still standing when the cycle’s pendulum inevitably swings back.
