By Laurent Doucet and George Ren

Through research on the dynamics of the health insurance market, we have conducted an in-depth study on the development patterns and prospects of Managing General Agents (MGAs) and Managing General Underwriters (MGUs) in the Greater China and Southeast Asia regions.

We believe all participants in the insurance market are continuously expanding within the value chain to transform their value positioning. In recent years, the growth of MGA models has been rapid, and private equity funds have shown great interest in them. MGAs and insurance companies are interdependent. MGAs rely on the reputation and claims history of insurance companies to gain customer trust, while providing expertise and technology in specific fields to ensure service efficiency and experience for insurance companies. Additionally, insurance companies wish to reach new markets through MGAs.

With technological advancements, insurance stakeholders are more focused on enhancing customer relationships with a customer-centric approach, leading to increasing business overlaps among them. Reinsurers, insurance companies, MGAs, insurtech firms, and healthcare service providers are all expanding services along the value chain and broadening their coverage to extend their business models. For example, reinsurers diversify income and reach customers by providing new services to ceding companies and investing in digital ecosystems; insurance companies develop direct consumer connections through product differentiation and value-added services; MGAs focus on specialization in affinity segments and technology to promote product development, enhance distribution efficiency, and improve combined ratios; insurtech companies expand the value chain, strengthen existing value propositions, and diversify revenue; healthcare service providers improve patient relationships and retention by offering end-to-end services.

In terms of the Asian market landscape, in China, the MGA model is still in its early development phase, with most existing participants being startups, and monopoly enterprises have not yet emerged. Most MGAs in Southeast Asia are large enterprises or medical institutions from other regions, with a smaller number of local MGA insurtech companies emerging. We have deeply analysed the leading companies in each market and their key success factors in our article.

We have observed that the MGA model is gaining increasing attention in Asia, but its key development drivers are still forming. Future industry ecosystems, value chain innovation models, and new regulatory measures are all aspects to look forward to.