MGA Insurance Software: What a Delegated Authority Program Needs

Delegated authority has quietly become one of the larger stories in US property and casualty distribution.

Conning put total US MGA premium at $128 billion in 2025. The part visible in statutory filings, the direct premium written that carriers report in Note 19, came to $102.6 billion, up 12% on 2024, against roughly 5% growth for the wider P&C market.

About $22.6 billion of that premium is supported through fronting carrier relationships, on Conning’s estimate roughly a fifth of the total.

The MGA market’s continued expansion reflects more than premium growth; it represents a meaningful evolution in how underwriting expertise, capital, technology, and distribution come together.

Alan Dobbins, Director of Insurance Research, Conning

Growing at that rate puts weight on the operating model. The software has to keep up with new programs, new capacity relationships and the reporting that comes with both. Our free MGA software launch playbook takes one program through that, from idea to first bound policy.

Why MGAs Need a Specialized Approach to Insurance Software

MGAs design and run insurance programs on a carrier’s behalf. Unlike brokers, they can price, underwrite, and bind coverage; unlike insurers, they don’t carry the balance sheet. That mix lets them move faster in niche markets and tailor products.

Michalina Stark, Business Analyst, Openkoda

An MGA’s software needs to reflect two things at once: the specialist business it wants to write, and the authority it has been given to write it.

Delegated authority has practical consequences throughout the operating model. A binding authority agreement needs to translate into eligibility rules, territorial restrictions, limits, referral triggers, documentation requirements and reporting obligations. Those controls have to work while a submission is being assessed, with a record of the rules and approvals behind each decision.

The scope matters too. Authority to underwrite does not automatically include authority to settle claims. Lloyd’s distinguishes between underwriting delegation and claims arrangements, which may involve the coverholder, a separate claims administrator or the managing agent. The software needs to reflect the responsibilities actually agreed. Lloyd’s guidance for coverholders.

Specialization adds another layer. Many MGAs compete through deep expertise in particular risks, occupations or customer groups. A cyber submission may require security controls and external risk signals; a specialty property product may depend on occupancy, construction and location-level exposure data. Those differences affect the questions asked, the information stored, the pricing logic, the referral process and the policy wording.

The policy lifecycle is familiar. The details that make the program work are often highly specific.

That is why customizability matters so much in MGA insurance software. A useful system combines dependable policy administration with room to adapt products, workflows and integrations as underwriting appetite, distribution and capacity relationships change.

What Features Does an MGA System Need?

The most useful evaluation starts with a real program: its binding authority agreement, a typical submission, an exception requiring referral, and the reports its capacity provider expects. Those examples reveal far more than a generic feature checklist.

Integrations That Support Delegated Authority

Carrier integration is a two-way operational relationship. The MGA supplies information about the business it writes; carrier decisions, reporting queries and agreed changes need to find their way back into the relevant workflow.

Look for an MGA system that can support connections across:

• Capacity providers: Exchange referral information, record decisions and deliver the risk, premium and claims data required for each program.
• Brokers and distribution partners: Capture submissions and supporting documents, then return quotes, policy documents and status updates without repeatedly entering the same information.
• Specialist data providers: Bring relevant risk information into underwriting, such as property hazard data, vehicle details or cyber risk assessments.
• Finance and payment systems: Connect invoices, receipts, commissions and settlement records so written premium can be reconciled with money collected and remitted.
• Claims administrators: Exchange claim references, reserves, payments and status updates where claims are handled by an appointed TPA or another party.

The important question is what happens to the data after it crosses the interface. Agree identifiers, field mappings, validation rules, delivery schedules and responsibility for rejected records. An API connection can still leave operations chasing errors if nobody owns the exceptions. Validated file exchanges may also remain appropriate where that is how a carrier receives reporting.

For Lloyd’s business, reporting standards cover core risk, premium and claims information, including relevant regulatory and tax data. Managing agents can require additional information for particular risks and arrangements, which makes flexible reporting formats and reliable source data especially valuable. Lloyd’s delegated authority reporting standards.

Example: A Specialty Property MGA

Consider an illustrative property program whose agreement allows the MGA to bind eligible risks up to £2 million per location, with larger risks subject to carrier referral.

A broker submits a £2.4 million location. The system retrieves the agreed hazard data, identifies the referral requirement and sends the underwriting information for review. Binding stays pending until a documented carrier decision permits it. If the policy is issued, its information feeds the relevant documents, financial records and periodic reporting.

Customizable Products and Workflows

Your MGA software should accommodate different risk data, rating factors, documents and referral paths without forcing every product into the same structure. It should also distinguish programs with different capacity providers, authority limits and reporting requirements.

Test how changes take effect. If you revise a deductible or referral threshold for new business, can existing policies retain the terms under which they were written? That distinction gets more important as the book grows.

Dashboards That Reflect How Your MGA Operates

Different teams need different views. Underwriters need pending referrals and missing information. Operations need outstanding documents and upcoming renewals. Finance needs premium collection and settlement exceptions. Program managers need visibility into production, capacity usage and claims experience.

Each figure should lead back to its underlying records. A dashboard is far more useful when someone can investigate an exception and act on it immediately.

Customizable Insurance Policy Administration Software Tailored to MGAs’ Needs

A specialist product does not mean every part of its supporting system has to be built from scratch. Quote processing, endorsements, renewals, billing and document generation are established insurance operations. The distinctive work usually sits in the risk model, the underwriting decisions and the connections between partners.

Openkoda brings those requirements together in a highly customizable policy administration system. It already includes working insurance modules, with product configuration and workflow tools that let teams adapt them to their operating model. Explore the Openkoda feature set.

For an MGA, that changes the implementation conversation. Your team starts with the actual program: the risks you want to accept, the referrals your carrier expects, how brokers submit business, and how the book has to be reported.

Openkoda’s insurance specialists can help scope those requirements and deliver customizations and integrations where needed. Routine product and workflow changes then use the system’s configuration tools, while more involved requirements go through its custom development services. The Openkoda team and its plans and implementation services.

Openkoda Features That Matter to MGAs

• Policy administration and document generation. Handle quotes, binding, issuance, endorsements, renewals and cancellations, with effective-dated product versions. Generate schedules, certificates and other documents from configured templates and policy data. Policy administration and document generation.
• Configurable rating and underwriting workflows. Define rating tables, formulas and referral rules, then organize submissions in an underwriting workbench. Teams assess the risk information, review supporting documents and record decisions inside the same process. Changes can be tested before activation. Rating engine and underwriting workbench.
• Bordereaux and program oversight. Generate premium and claims reports from records held in the system, using configured carrier templates and reporting schedules. Track submissions, queries and acceptance alongside authority limits and capacity usage by program. Bordereaux reporting.
• Billing, payments and commissions. Set up payment schedules, generate invoices, monitor outstanding balances and manage commission calculations and settlement, so operations and finance work from the same policy information. Billing and payments.
• Flexible broker and partner distribution. Use branded forms and configurable submission journeys, with broker portals and partner submission APIs available on Enterprise. External connections can be scoped around carrier requirements, specialist data providers and the MGA’s existing systems.
• AI for product configuration and reporting. The AI Product Builder turns plain-language instructions into proposed product changes that users review before applying. Reporting AI lets teams ask questions about their available data and inspect the query behind the answer: “Show referrals by broker and product for the last month” can reveal where submissions repeatedly need extra underwriting attention.

Where claims handling sits within your responsibilities, Openkoda also provides claims processing, from notification and coverage checks through reserves, approvals and payments. Where another party handles claims, the relevant data exchange belongs in the integration scope.

AI features use a separate subscription. The distribution features and integrations you need should be settled when the implementation scope and plan are agreed.

Up and Running, Fast: Three Steps for Your MGA

Openkoda’s MGA approach follows three stages: configure the program, distribute and underwrite, then administer and report. What each involves in practice:

1. Configure the Program

Work with the Openkoda team to define coverages, rating, risk information and authority limits. Set up documents, referral triggers and carrier reporting requirements. Agree the integrations and test representative cases, including exceptions, so the configuration reflects the program you actually have authority to operate.

2. Distribute and Underwrite

Set up the submission channels your brokers and partners need. Configure validation, underwriting rules and referral paths so eligible risks progress through the agreed process and exceptions reach the right decision-maker. Test the journey from application through quote, approval and binding before opening it to live business.

3. Administer and Report

Service the book through endorsements, renewals, billing and the relevant claims arrangements. Configure periodic carrier reports, validate their outputs and establish how reporting queries get resolved. Give each team the dashboards and access it needs to manage daily work and monitor the program.

The advantage continues after launch. As appetite changes or a new distribution partner comes on board, your MGA has an established PAS to adapt, with policy records, operational workflows and reporting already connected.

Closing Thoughts

The MGA model is growing faster than the market it sits inside, and that growth is what turns software from a back-office question into a capacity conversation.

Choose a system by running your own binding authority agreement through it: one real submission, one exception that has to refer, and the bordereau your carrier expects at the end of the month. Whatever survives that exercise is the shortlist.