Deja Vu as Berkley Bashes Delegated Underwriters

W.R. Berkley’s CEO wasted no time addressing the issue that has been stuck in his craw for at least a year.

“We continue to have great concern around much of the [delegated underwriting authority] model and how it’s participating in the marketplace,” said W. Robert Berkley Jr, president, CEO and most recently chairman—a title he took over when his father, industry legend and company founder, William R. Berkley passed away in June.

Berkley’s comments on managing general agencies and underwriters came as soon as CFO Richard Baio’s second-quarter financial report was complete. The Greenwich, Connecticut-based commercial insurer saw net income increase about 12.7% compared to a year ago.

“We have always had questions around delegated authority and the lack of alignment of interests,” Berkley said during the call with analysts. “It seems like this is mushrooming and ultimately is going to end in tears for market participants that are not having the appropriate control over the capital and how it is being managed.”

The “greatest stupidity,” according to Berkley, is in property insurance—shared and layered coverage structures. “We’re seeing that water falling through to other parts of the property market,” he said.

Berkley’s contempt here is not new. In fact, he made similar comments a year ago when he first called out a mismatch of alignment between the pen and capital holders. He continued the theme during a first-quarter 2026 call.

Related: ‘We’ll Have to See How This Plays Out,’ Says CEO Berkley on MGA Competitors | Rational Market? How About ‘Dumb’ and ‘Bizarre’?

Berkley’s most recently said during the Q2 call that the “big thorn in the side of the marketplace” are “these people running around with the pen for someone else, and they get paid based on the policy they write as opposed to the underwriting results they achieve.”

Topics Underwriting