Agency Networks Planning for New Growth in Changing Market

By Andrea Wells

Organic growth is a key barometer of an organization’s success in any industry. And it’s critical when it comes to an independent agency’s profitability in a changing market cycle like today.

While no one is predicting a return to “soft market” pricing in 2026, there are noticeable trends pointing to a changing market, including increased appetite from carriers in many sectors of the insurance business and a declining trend in rate increases across most lines of coverage. Average premium renewal rate changes for all major commercial lines of business except workers’ compensation are up year over year, according to Ivans’ Q2 2025 Index. However, compared to Q1 2025, Q2 2025 revealed a decrease in average premium renewal rate changes except in general liability.

Most carriers are back to making money, said Keith Captain, president of FirstChoice, a MarshBerry Company. “They’re back to making an underwriting profit, and so you’re starting to hear talk now about the need to deploy capital, meaning they need to invest in growth,” he said. “You’re actually starting to see certain lines of business where there’s been some rate decreases or carriers are opening up a new company line in order to be able to grow.” Still, that trend depends heavily on the individual carrier’s own appetite and the geography of the risk, he added.

No one is seeing any insurance carrier return to “full growth mode,” he said. But instead, insurers are drilling down into specific areas where they want to grow–and grow profitably, Captain said. That might mean targeting specific counties in one state rather than opening up to the entire state. What they really learned over the past few years on the road back to profitability is they need to be really focused on exactly where they want to grow, he said.

There have been lessons learned during this market cycle for both the carriers and their agents, Matt Masiello, CEO of SIAA, said. “This was a really difficult market cycle. I think it was more dramatic than any of us thought it was going to be, and it’s been longer and more dramatic in pricing changes,” Masiello said. “And it’s not over yet.”

Despite the challenges, the property/casualty market is in a healthier place, he added. “I think that agencies are better and stronger for having come through a hard market like this,” Masiello said. It’s been good because those dramatic rate adjustments improved the health of insurance carriers today. “We need our carriers to be strong, healthy, and profitable so they have the ability to support our customers and our agencies.”

One of the things this hard market cycle has created is the opportunity for agency networks, like SIAA, to solve problems. “What can we do to help agents and carriers solve problems for customers?” Masiello asked.

One future problem in a changing market is growing in a market where pricing might start trending down. That’s why growth-minded agencies, and their agency network partners, will need to re-focus their efforts on growing organically in 2026, Captain predicts.

“That’s the biggest thing people are talking about right now–growth,” Captain said. Not just any growth but organic growth, he added. “I think a lot of agents–not all, but a lot of agents–got comfortable growing through rate increases [throughout the hard market cycle],” he said. “Those agencies had a very retention mindset.”

But next year agencies should be focused on changing that retention mindset to an organic growth mindset. “They need to be thinking about, ‘How do I go actually get new storefronts, get new policies?’ Because what we’ve seen over the past few years is a lot of flattening of organic growth,” Captain said. “That’s going to be a really big conversation piece because carriers are asking for it now.”

Now Is the Time

Andrew Caldwell, president of Smart Choice, agrees that organic growth will be a focus in 2026, and he sees agency networks as the ideal way for retail agencies to boost organic growth trends next year.

Now is the time to grow, he said. “Competition’s coming back into the market, and that’s good for everybody,” he said. “Independent agents benefit from carrier competition in the marketplace, and we as a network get the benefit of that as well,” he added.

Caldwell sees additional interest from carriers looking to networks for distribution and organic growth through that distribution. He also sees new agencies looking to networks to help them grow.

At SmartChoice, new agent recruitment is at an all-time high, Caldwell said. “We’ve added 1,450 new agents over the last year and just had our largest month on record–162 agents in August alone,” he said. “I would say in the last three months of this year, we will appoint more agents than we did in the last two years combined.”

Conversations with carrier partners have changed in the last three months as well, he said. Those preferred carriers that for the last two or three years have been very conservative on appointments and capacity are changing the conversation, Caldwell said. “From our meetings with carriers, there’s a ton more saying, now it’s time to grow,” he added. “So, the more we show we can be an organic growth engine for our carrier partners, the more opportunities we [agency networks] will have next year.”

Agency networks are now a proven and profitable distribution model for the independent agency channel, according to Caldwell and others. “We’re a known entity. I’m not explaining what a network is anymore, whereas eight years ago, we all were explaining to an Allstate and Nationwide agency why they should come over to the independent side. We’re not doing that today,” he said. “People have figured out this is the winning side, at least for now,” he added.

“There is such a tremendous opportunity for us and our competitors to take market share, and we have got to take advantage of that,” Caldwell said. “For 2026, the opportunity to grow has never been better. It’s never been better.”

Growth Strategies

Like their independent agency members, the largest agency networks and franchise groups listed on Insurance Journal’s Top 20 Agency Partnerships ranking (see page 21) experienced significant growth during the hard market cycle. In aggregate, the total property/casualty revenue of Insurance’s Top 20 Agency Partnerships list grew by $2,681,164,782 in total P/C revenue from the 2024 ranking to the 2025 ranking.

Growth strategies in the agency partnerships world are as diverse as the organizations themselves. Some grew by adding hundreds of new member agencies; others grew through mergers and acquisitions; and some grew by both membership numbers and M&A activity.

Renaissance has been active in the acquisition of smaller agency networks in several states in recent years. Robert A. Bondi, CEO of Renaissance, told Insurance Journal that he sees the strategy as a win for both Renaissance and smaller networks that once acquired have been able to benefit from the scale of a larger group. Like other smaller insurance organizations in the U.S., smaller agency networks are beginning to struggle in today’s competitive environment, he said.

“We think that the joining of their members with our framework really creates a win-win situation for the members, and for these smaller network owners, who are struggling a bit to try to get carriers to work with them in a constructive way,” he said. Access to certain insurance carriers, products, and services can be more challenging for a smaller organization, he said.

Bondi expects the M&A activity in the agency network world to continue both for Renaissance and other networks. “I don’t think we’re going to end up with only a handful of agency networks, but I do think that the networks in general were just as fragmented as the independent agencies were,” he said. “A little bit of combination is going to make us all stronger, better, and maybe more effective,” he said.

“It’s a very exciting time to be a part of a network, particularly as we all, myself included, are trying to create a more professional, more valuable enterprise that supports agencies and helps them connect better with carriers.”

He believes the evolution of agency networks and how they serve the independent agency channel is only beginning. “We’re still in the beginning of the game on how to actually help independent agencies thrive, and that’s what we’re excited about,” he said.

Other networks like ISU Steadfast and Indium have been on the other side of the M&A game–both were acquired by larger entities but not larger networks.

In October 2023, Steadfast Group, the largest general insurance broker network and underwriting agency group in Australasia, acquired California’s ISU Group to expand the organization into the U.S. Now called ISU Steadfast, the 40-plus-year-old agency network is making a few changes to grow the network and to help additional independent agency members, said Dan McCarthy, CEO of ISU Steadfast.

One big change is that the agency network will be opening membership to smaller agencies with revenues as low as $250,000, McCarthy said. Previously, most ISU agency members had to be at $1.5 million or more in total revenue. “We had some agencies under that threshold, but it was not easy to do,” he said. McCarthy said the lower threshold for revenue will allow more members to join.

Currently, ISU Steadfast has agency members in 40 states with about 24% of the business written in California. McCarthy said the new ISU Steadfast model will allow for members to access some products and services on an à la carte basis. “You don’t have to buy the full services at ISU Steadfast. You can come in and say, ‘I just want this,’ for example,” he said.

McCarthy also said as its new owner continues to make moves into the U.S. market, ISU Steadfast members will see added products and services to help independent agents remain independent. For example, one recent acquisition will help move the Australia-based company’s proprietary programs into the U.S. market.

In early September, Steadfast Group announced its acquisition of a majority stake in U.S.-based specialty managing general agency and wholesale brokerage Novum Underwriting Partners LLC, including the organization’s technology platform, Novum Online. Novum will serve as Steadfast’s program development and management platform in the United States.

McCarthy said the move will help Steadfast bring some of its current 30 specialist MGA and wholesale solutions to ISU Steadfast and the broader U.S. market. Additionally, with the financial backing of Steadfast Group, McCarthy said there could be perpetuation opportunities for some member agencies as well, either through a fractional purchase or 100% purchase when it makes sense. “They have the capital to do it, and they want to help the agency perpetuate independently,” he said.

Columbus, Ohio-based Indium has also grown substantially, partly by being acquired. At the end of 2023, Assurex Global entered the agency network world with their partner firms by acquiring Indium. Katherine Ternes, president of Indium, said the acquisition has led to numerous Assurex Global agencies joining the network. “That was a big part of our increase from 2022 to 2023, the first few [agencies] started participating in 2023, and more have joined since,” she said.

Outlook Bright

Despite changing market trends, the outlook for independent agencies and their network partners is good, Masiello said. “Industry-wise, it’s really a great time to be an independent agency, great time to open new agencies or to run established agencies,” he said. “I think coming out of what we’ve been through over the last 24 to 36 months, the industry should be healthy. And I think that’s good for all of us. It’s an exciting time.”

Topics Trends