Another wave of consolidation?

Tony Cornell considers how insurers will cope with demands for more commission if acquisition activity picks up again

Since those binge years of 2007-9 when the face of the market was changed, there has been a lull in acquisitions in the medium-sized provincial broking market. In the last five years, the top 10 independent brokers have changed, with only three remaining from the 2011 list. Towergate, Bluefin and Henderson – and Towergate have, of course, changed ownership. Of the rest of the top 200, some 80 percent remain and have managed to survive and prosper through a difficult period of low economic growth