Global brokers unite for landmark study on broker value

Some of the world’s most influential insurance brokers – including Acrisure, AJ Gallagher, Amwins, Aon, Howden, Marsh and WTW – have joined Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB), and World Federation of Insurance Intermediaries in supporting a major new initiative to evaluate the true value brokers deliver to the global insurance market.

Launched by the London & International Insurance Brokers’ Association (LIIBA), the initiative – The Innovation Imperative: Why brokers matter more than ever – is being developed in partnership with research specialists Gracechurch and Trimstone Partners.

The project aims to assess long-standing misconceptions regarding the role of specialty broking, producing an evidence-based report that will be unveiled ahead of CIAB’s Insurance Leadership Forum in Colorado this autumn.

At the core of this work is a direct response to the growing regulatory narrative that often reduces the activities of specialty broking to a “distribution cost.”

LIIBA believes that this oversimplification ignores the complex, client-focused work brokers perform in discovering, structuring, and placing risk, as well as the innovation and advisory support they provide throughout the insurance value chain. LIIBA CEO Chris Croft notes that this misconception not only devalues broker expertise, but also fuels regulatory discussions around international licencing arrangements and remuneration models. .  It also means that the needs of brokers are too often ignored by governments when the reality is that we are key to delivering growth across the global economy – something pretty much all administrations are desperate to see.  The new report is designed to provide brokers with the tools to push back – offering a data-driven, detailed articulation of their true impact.

The project will therefore examine brokers’ roles across the full lifecycle of a risk, from its initial identification and analysis through to placement, servicing, and claims resolution.

Through a blend of research techniques – including in-depth interviews with senior brokers and underwriters, performance benchmarking, and real-world case studies – the Report will aim to capture what brokers actually do, how they shape better client outcomes, enhance market efficiency, and support innovation.

Special attention will also be paid to how brokers add value in complex, emerging, or volatile areas of risk, where expertise and market relationships are critical.

Gracechurch and Trimstone have designed a focused research framework that will also assess the implications of technological change, including AI, and map how broker roles are evolving.

The study will provide a clearer understanding of how brokers’ work compares in cost and effectiveness to other parts of the insurance value chain, offering a more balanced view of where policyholder money actually goes and what it delivers in return.

A key strength of the initiative lies in the broad coalition supporting it. With major international brokers across various business lines taking part, the project will draw from a rich base of perspectives and experiences, ensuring the findings resonate widely and credibly. An expert group, drawn from this participant pool, will provide ongoing feedback and guidance as the research progresses, reinforcing both its relevance and authority.

To ensure maximum visibility, LIIBA is also working with Insurindex and the digital marketing agency Brandex to deliver a coordinated communications campaign around the report’s launch.

As the insurance industry navigates increasing complexity, regulation, and risk, this collaborative effort represents a timely and ambitious attempt to reframe the broker’s role for the future. By uniting behind a shared narrative and evidence base, the global broker community is setting out to not just be a conduit for risk transfer, but as a vital architect of market solutions and economic resilience.