There were 18 announced deals in the UK insurance distribution sector between June and August, according to figures from MarshBerry. The consultancy says this is the lowest number recoded for the summer period since 2017. In the year to date, there have been 56 deals, down 16% on the 67 recorded las year.

In 2023 and 2024, there had been more than 100 deals recorded by this stage in the year and MarshBerry suggests the reduced volume of deals is now the new normal for the market.

In a statement, John Nisbet, managing director at MarshBerry, said: “On the demand side it is difficult to conclude that there is any shortage of buyers. Several of the most voracious acquirers of recent years have either slowed down and become more selective or paused their UK buying. This will be temporary, in a mature sector where organic growth is so hard to come by, M&A is an almost universal strand of strategy for larger commercial brokers.”

He added: “The picture on the supply side is more nuanced. There are fewer saleable brokers around than there used to be. Everyone knows the 3,500+ figure, the number of insurance intermediary firms in the UK, but not everyone properly understands it. It is a suitably large figure that it can be easy to assume a nearly unlimited supply of targets. However, the smallest 3,000 firms in the UK would collectively not be a top five player in the UK market in terms of total brokerage. They are in a market that has been very heavily picked over.”