Pricing discipline is being tested across the insurance market, but for MGAs operating in non-standard lines, the room for compromise is limited.
As rates soften, firms face a familiar tension: remain competitive or protect underwriting integrity. For some, that balance is shifting decisively towards discipline, even at the cost of volume.
At Prestige Underwriting, managing director Alison Williams (pictured) said that decision was made early.
“We took the decision early on that we were not going to chase the market, because when you are writing things such as thatch, high-performance vehicles and convicted drivers, you just cannot – there is a price point,” she said.
The speed of the recent softening has only sharpened that challenge. For Williams, the pace of change stood out.
“I do not think I have seen a market soften at the speed with which it did last year,” she said.
In that environment, pricing discipline becomes less theoretical and more operational. It shapes day-to-day underwriting decisions, particularly in specialist lines where risks are less predictable and less easily commoditised.
That shift is also being reinforced by greater investment in pricing capability. Williams pointed to a growing reliance on actuarial insight to support underwriting judgement, rather than replace it.
“It has shifted our discipline from being 100% underwriting-led to being, I would probably say, pricing-led,” she said, adding that experienced underwriters remain critical where data alone cannot capture the nuances of non-standard risk.
“There is only so much that algorithms can tell you,” she said.
Maintaining that balance increasingly depends on how well firms use data. For MGAs, that has traditionally meant leaning on capacity providers, but that model is evolving.
“We have 28 years of experience and data that backs up what we do,” Williams said, highlighting the value of building pricing capability around a firm’s own portfolio rather than relying solely on external views.
That internal data is now being complemented by a growing range of external sources. The impact is most visible not in growth, but in stability.
“You can see it in both our motor loss ratio and home loss ratios,” she said. “You can see the loss ratios reduce and stabilise.”
But stronger data alone does not resolve the commercial tension. Holding pricing discipline in a soft market can create friction with brokers, even where the long-term rationale is understood.
“If someone else is writing it cheaper, come back next year when theirs goes up,” Williams said, reflecting a longer-term view of pricing discipline.
That longer-term view is becoming more relevant as capacity tightens in parts of the non-standard market. Some players have already stepped back, reinforcing the consequences of underpricing specialist risks.
“I want to still be writing thatch in five years,” she said, “not having the conversation where we have lost the capacity to write it.”
The limits of price competition are most visible in non-standard property, where underwriting complexity and claims dynamics quickly outweigh headline premiums.
“These risks are not straightforward constructions,” Williams said. “They require specialist skill sets.”
Rising rebuild costs and constrained supply chains have widened the gap between perceived and actual exposure. In some cases, insured values are falling significantly short, Williams told of one property insured for £1.4 million later valued at £2.6 million.
Claims handling introduces further complexity. A shortage of specialist labour can extend repair times significantly, with direct implications for insurers.
“Price is almost secondary for thatch,” Williams said. “It is risk mitigation and the points we have to go through.”
The defining feature of the current market is its unpredictability, rather than softness alone.
“You used to be able to read the signs,” Williams said. “The softening happened at a speed that we did not see coming.”
That uncertainty is shaping how firms approach pricing discipline today. Rather than reacting to short-term movements, the focus is on maintaining consistency while refining accuracy through better data and aligned underwriting.
“It is a tough market,” she said. “But we have stayed as competitive as we can without actually chasing the market.”
For MGAs operating in specialist lines, pricing discipline is no longer just a technical consideration. It is a strategic decision, one that determines not only performance in the current cycle, but whether capacity, expertise and underwriting confidence remain in place for the next.
