Managing General Agents and Their Role in Insurance Distribution and Operation

Summary

This practice note discusses managing general agents (MGAs) and their role in the distribution of insurance and otherwise in some insurers' operation. An uninitiated consumer of insurance could easily confuse an MGA with the insurer itself because an MGA may perform many of the consumer-facing and back-office tasks that other insurers do for themselves. The practice note will detail the structure of an MGA, its relationship with the insurer with which it is associated, disputes that can arise in that relationship, and the impact of the MGA-insurer relationship upon consumers seeking to buy insurance who ultimately become insureds. It will also discuss the regulation of MGAs by state insurance regulatory authorities.