2016 Broker Compensation and Services Report

The 2016 Broker Compensation & Services Report examines the services delivered by brokers and the commissions and fees that come with these services.

Analyzing Broker Compensation and Services

What brokerage services are most valued by insurance buyers? What services are they looking for apart from traditional products offered by their brokers? How are brokers responding to the expanding needs of their customers? How much are insurance buyers spending on brokerage services? Which industries pay more and what lines of business have the highest compensation paid as a percentage of premium? Are insurance buyers paying their brokers overall fees or commissions?

The 2016 Insurance Broker/Agent Compensation and Services Survey answers these questions and more. Over the last eight years, Advisen has been polling insurance buyers and brokers about their views on product offerings and compensation.

Advisen’s analysis of this year’s responses identified several important conclusions:

• Brokers continue to evolve their service offerings to respond to buyer needs.
• A disconnect persists in terms of what services insurance buyers value and what brokers think their customers value.
• Compensation practices vary significantly across industry and revenue groups.

Launched in 2008, the Insurance Broker/Agent Compensation and Services Survey has seen how broker compensation practices shifted from commission-based pricing to fee-based services and back again. It has also documented the similarities and differences of insurance buyers’ and brokers’ views.

The 2016 survey is the fifth leg of this benchmarking data collection initiative conducted in 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2014. The results provide a fascinating insight into the evolving broker compensation and services picture.

We have very large programs and a large annual spend; we like to use multiple brokers to have access to the entire market and ensure we are getting the most competitive rates and top rate service.

-Respondent to the 2016 Survey

Given the significance of our annual insurance program, Advisen’s [Broker Compensation & Services] Report proved helpful to our Risk Management department’s efforts in evaluating our P&C brokerage relationships. This report, which we found to be the only one of its kind, enabled us to ask better questions of our brokers, and to make sure that our services and fee structures are more aligned with our department’s goals.

-Risk Manager

Table of Contents

• Executive Summary
• Key Findings
• About the Survey
• About the Respondents
• Use of Brokers
• Broker Compensation Practices
• Insurance Buyers’ Views
  • Fee-based vs. Commission Compensation Model
  • Broker Compensation Model and Company Size
  • Broker Compensation Model by Industry
  • A Look at Broker Compensation Across Nine Lines of Business
  • Contingent Commissions
• Brokers’ Views
• Services Provided by Brokers
  • Services Included in Placement Compensation
  • Brokers vs. Insurance Buyers: Services Offered Under Marketing/Placement Compensation
  • Broker-Insurance Buyer Disconnect? Views on the Most Valuable Services Provided by Brokers
  • Brokers vs. Insurance Buyers: Services Beyond Those Offered Within Compensation Agreements
• Survey Summary and Conclusions
• About Advisen

Purchase the 2016 Broker Compensation Report

Order your copy of the 2016 Broker Compensation and Services Report.