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Unlocking Europe’s MGA Opportunity: What it Takes to Win

Europe’s unmatched €18 billion MGA market opportunity

Europe’s MGA ecosystem generated approximately €18 billion in gross written premium in 2024 and continues to grow at around 23% per year. With roughly 650 MGAs operating across the continent, Europe is one of the most attractive insurance opportunities globally, but only for firms that understand it as a set of markets, not a single market.

The European Challenge

If you are coming from the UK or the US, the first mistake is to assume that Europe can be approached as one addressable market. Passporting may create theoretical access across the EU, but it does not create commercial access. Every territory has its own regulatory expectations, underwriting culture, broker relationships, and operational realities.

That is why many UK MGAs stall when they try to expand into Europe. The challenge is rarely licensing alone. It is the operational complexity that sits behind the licence: compliance frameworks, product governance, premium handling, reporting, and distribution execution all need to work locally, not just centrally.

Experience in one mature market does not automatically translate into capability across many. A London-learned approach can be a useful starting point, but it is not enough on its own. MGAs that treat Europe as a monolith risk slow progress, expensive missteps, and limited scale.

Infrastructure is what wins

To build sustainable European growth, an MGA needs infrastructure that turns regulatory access into real commercial capability. That means:

• Premium handling and fiduciary processes, documented and reconciled to local standards
• Product governance that reflects national consumer protection and distribution requirements
• Multilingual, multi-jurisdictional compliance capability
• Distribution relationships built on local credibility and trust
• Operational reporting and oversight that satisfy both regulators and capacity providers

Without these foundations, passporting rights offer only theoretical reach.

At OneAdvent, we help MGAs build the operating framework needed to move quickly without compromising governance. With experience across European markets and the strength of our broader network, we support founders with the technical, operational, and relationship infrastructure required to launch and scale with confidence.

What founders should test

If you are choosing a partner to scale in Europe, there are five questions worth asking:

• Can they demonstrate real operational understanding across multiple European jurisdictions?
• Are their governance and data standards robust enough for both regulators and capacity providers?
• Do they understand how distribution, underwriting, and compliance differ from country to country?
• Can their infrastructure scale from a single-market launch to multi-country operations?
• Do they have the local relationships needed to support broker trust and carrier confidence?

These are not theoretical questions. They are the difference between a good launch and durable scale.

Beyond permissions

Few UK-founded MGAs have built meaningful premium scale across more than 15 European markets. That is not because the opportunity is lacking. It is because Europe rewards patience, local knowledge, and operational discipline.

The firms that win will be those that build for complexity rather than trying to bypass it. Europe’s MGA opportunity belongs to founders and partners who combine technical underwriting skill with local execution, regulatory insight, and a commitment to long-term infrastructure. That is what turns access into growth and ambition into scale.

Tim Quayle (CEO), Cian O’Toole (MD – Europe) and Sophie Farrow (Head of Marketing and People) will be in attendance at FASE’s European MGA Rendezvous in Barcelona on 11-12th May. Please reach out if you’d like to catch up there!

Cian O’Toole is Managing Director, Europe at OneAdvent, helping founders launch and grow MGAs across Europe with the technical, operational, and relationship support needed to scale.

If you’ve enjoyed this blog why not check out more insights from recent events we’ve attended including Diving Into Insurtech & Incumbent Partnerships – ITC London and Insurtech Journeys: From Product to Profit – ITC London.