Carrier
The insurer bears the insurance risk under the policy. Identify the legal insurer, not just a program brand.
Read about carriersInsurance market guide
Managing General Agent.
A managing general agent is an intermediary that performs functions for an insurer under a contractual grant of authority. The actual authority may include underwriting, binding, policy issuance, premium administration, or claims functions, but the label MGA does not reveal the scope of authority for a particular program.
Transaction role
Follow the function, not the label.
An MGA acts for one or more insurers within delegated contractual authority and may operate as the underwriting market for a specific program.
Confirm the responsibility
Ask who can quote, who can bind, who issues the policy and who handles service. Those responsibilities depend on the specific agreement and program, not just the company label.
Practical broker checklist
When an MGA can help a retail agent
- Identify the specific program and the insurer behind it, then check the classes, states and limits it considers.
- Ask which decisions the MGA can make and which require insurer referral, including unusual account features.
- Confirm who provides the quote, accepts a bind request, issues documents and handles service after placement.
An illustrative account
A contractor fits a program's published trade list but performs work above its stated height threshold. The MGA may need carrier approval for that exception even if it can quote ordinary accounts directly. Ask about the referral before promising timing or terms.
This is a hypothetical preparation example, not an actual placement or a promise of coverage.
Compare the related managing general underwriter roleThe roles in one placement
Who does what?
MGA or MGU
A delegated underwriting business may evaluate and accept accounts within the insurer's agreed authority. The labels overlap; the agreement determines the scope.
Read about MGAsRead about MGUsWholesale broker
The intermediary helps the retail agent prepare and place the account with an underwriting market. A brokerage role alone does not confer underwriting authority.
Read about wholesale brokersEvidence
Signals worth verifying.
Authority signals
- Named carrier or syndicate
- Executed delegated-authority agreement
- Defined products, states, limits, and referral rules
- Authorized submission, quote, bind, and policy workflow
Access questions
- Which insurer supplies the paper?
- What underwriting or binding authority is delegated?
- Does the MGA accept retail or wholesale submissions for this program?
- What states, classes, limits, and referral rules apply?
False confidence
What does not prove access.
- The MGA label by itself
- A general company appointment
- A different program operated by the same firm
- A wholesaler-owned desk that is not acting as the underwriting program
Primary reference: WSIA insurance market membership criteria
Next action
Discuss the account with Hedge.
Start with the operations, location, requested coverage and the facts making placement difficult. Check appetite or send the account through Hedge's secure submission process for review.