The insurance market has been under increased pressure throughout 2025 from every direction. Litigation is becoming more aggressive, capacity is tightening, and regulations are changing fast. For brokers, MGAs, carriers, and capital providers, these forces aren't abstract — they're reshaping day-to-day decisions, from pricing and reserving to partner selection and tech investment.
Stitching it all together is the urgent need for real-time insight into data, operational agility, and underwriting accuracy. Insurance companies that respond quickly, make better-informed decisions, and provide great customer service are already pulling ahead of the competition.
Litigation: Less Predictable, More Costly
In Florida, tort reform has changed the rules, compressing claims timelines and shifting litigation incentives. However, elsewhere in the U.S., third-party litigation funding (TPLF) is making those same rules harder to follow.
In July 2025, Reuters reported that litigation financiers narrowly avoided a proposed 41% tax on their returns — a sign of how embedded and influential the sector has become. At the same time, Burford Capital is poised to collect $6 billion from its investment in a massive oil-and-gas arbitration case against Argentina.
Add in social inflation driven by mass tort advertising and shifting jury sentiment, and the result is a claims environment that's harder to predict, price, or reserve for.
Capacity Is Tightening — Especially in E&S
At the beginning of 2025, I predicted the continued boom of the E&S market. While this market has seen growth, it's no longer as wide open as it was in 2024 due to carriers getting more selective. Appetite is narrowing. Loss ratios are under pressure due to record losses from climate change. Across property and casualty (P&C) and professional lines, underwriting discipline is no longer optional; it's a threshold to even stay in the room.
And as margins tighten, speed matters. Launching products, testing appetite, and adjusting pricing dynamically is now a core advantage.
Reporting and Regulation Are Raising the Bar
The pressure isn't just coming from courts and carriers; it's also coming from regulators and capital partners.
For MGAs and hybrid fronting carriers, real-time bordereaux reporting, audit readiness, and live profitability tracking are now essential to maintaining trust and capacity, and the innovators in these markets are already rethinking their tech infrastructure to meet demand.
The old way — manually assembling spreadsheets to send weeks after the fact — just doesn't cut it any more.
Agents and Brokers Use AI to Stay Ahead
Insurance agencies and brokerages are not passengers in the AI journey—they're pilots. A recent Agents United report shows how independent agents leverage AI and predictive analytics to gain efficiency, improve client outcomes, and unlock new revenue streams. But getting there will be a massive undertaking. Data will need to be cleaned, unified, and stored in a single, dynamic repository that acts as a reliable source of truth across the organization. I described it previously as a secure container for information that the agent only needs to enter into the system once.
Why This Matters
- Personalized, Real-Time Client Proposals: AI synthesizes client data such as claim history, risk exposures, and market trends to craft tailored policy suggestions instantly, helping agents win trust and gain bandwidth. Personalization wins new policyholders and helps retain existing clients, as well.
- Efficiency Gains in Operations: Automating routine tasks, such as lead scoring, document generation, or renewal reminders, frees agents to focus more on advisory and client relationships rather than admin overhead.
- Regulatory and Risk Alignment: Predictive analytics help flag potential compliance or fraud concerns early in submissions or renewals, supporting agents in maintaining client integrity and agency credibility.
- Competitive Differentiation: With nearly 70% of brokerages adopting generative AI in some form, early adopters who integrate AI deeply into the sales and underwriting workflow gain a decisive edge.
By integrating AI insights, brokers and agents can operate more strategically, offering personalized, faster service without sacrificing quality. This allows them to stay relevant even as market turbulence increases.
The Bottom Line
From Florida's tort environment to tightening carrier appetite, the story is the same: Faster insight, stronger controls, and greater transparency are now table stakes.
For brokers, MGAs, and hybrid fronting carriers, this means:
- You need underwriting precision supported by real-time data — not just historical loss trends.
- You need agility to adapt, launch products, and adjust pricing as litigation and capacity trends shift.
- You need audit-ready compliance and accurate, transparent bordereaux to maintain relationships with fronting carriers and capital providers.
- And most of all, you need a tech stack that doesn't just record activity, but drives better decisions.
In a market that is this volatile, leadership depends on how fast you can adapt. The rules have changed, and your tech must keep up.
The U.S. insurance landscape is dynamic, driven by litigation, capacity issues, and regulation. The industry demands agility, precision, and transparency. Brokers, MGAs, and fronting carriers must leverage advanced technology for real-time insights, optimized underwriting, and compliance. Adapting swiftly with innovative tech stacks will ensure survival and leadership in this evolving market.
