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Written for insurance brokerage buyers
Before you buy an insurance brokerage, price the book on what renews with you.
Free 7-page guide, no email required
Australia has 5,402 insurance broking businesses sharing $24.0 billion of revenue, and most of the money in every one of them is a renewal that has not happened yet. Commission and fees renew with the client, so a broking book is worth only what stays after the vendor leaves, and five hard-market years have made every book on the market look better than the forecast says it will be.
Subject to lender criteria, security position and eligibility. Figures on this page reviewed quarterly, last reviewed September 2026. Next review: December 2026.
At no cost, we review your position and discuss how we will approach funding your deal. No lender sees anything until you say so.
30 minutes with Priyank, former bank lending manager and commercial credit analyst, member of the Australian Institute of Business Brokers.
7 pages. No email required. Direct download.
On this page
The industry, in four numbers
A rich industry, priced at the top of its cycle.
Revenue across the sector runs about $24.0 billion shared between 5,402 businesses: roughly $4.5 million each, with about four staff. Industry profit is $6.7 billion, near $1.2 million per business, and margin sits at 27.7%, up 3.8 points in five years. Almost 44% of businesses are sole proprietors who pay themselves from profit, so the published margin flatters the small end of the market, which is where most books for sale sit.
| Measure | Industry | What it means for your deal |
|---|---|---|
| Broking businesses | 5,402, falling 0.9% a year | Consolidation. The buyer you are bidding against is often a network, and it can pay on income because it already runs the platform. |
| Revenue each | ~$4.5 million | Skewed by the networks. A one-principal book is a fraction of this, and its margin is a different animal. |
| Profit each | ~$1.2 million, 27.7% margin | Built on five years of premium rises, and in many small brokerages before the owner’s own wage. Rebuild it. |
| Forecast growth | 1.6% a year to 2030–31 | Against 4.9% a year for the five years just gone. Pay for the clients, not the cycle. |
| Retention | ~94% of brokered policies renew (AUB network) | The number that prices the book. Ask for the lapse report before the financials. |
IBISWorld, Insurance Agents & Brokers in Australia (K6420), July 2026. General information only, not a valuation and not advice about any particular business.
Where the money actually comes from
Commercial general products are 49.9% of industry revenue, private general 30.0%, life 12.8%, health and other services 7.3%. Commercial clients pay 74.4% of the industry’s income and are where brokers hold their ground; retail clients are where direct insurers and comparison sites compete on price. A book weighted to commercial mid-market clients is a different business from one weighted to home and motor, even at the same commission rate. Ask for the split by class and by client before you assume.
Three ways to buy
The same book changes hands three ways, and they are three different prices.
Before the multiple, establish what you are buying. An insurance broking business is sold as an authorised representative practice under someone else’s Australian financial services licence, as a licensed brokerage with its own AFSL, or as a book alone transferred into a licence you already hold. The licence, the liabilities, the retention risk and the funding are different in each.
An authorised representative practice
You trade under the licensee’s AFSL. Typically the lowest entry price and the fastest start, because there is no licence application. But the licensee’s agreement decides what you can place, what you pay the network, and whether the clients are yours to sell. Read the transfer and termination clauses before the financials.
Harder to fund. The agreement is the asset.
A licensed brokerage, by share sale
The licence, the insurer agencies, the staff, the systems and the trust account arrive together. The strongest continuity for clients and for lenders. You also inherit the history: the professional indemnity tail, complaints, breach reports, staff entitlements, and every promise the vendor made.
Strongest funding. Continuity is the security.
The book alone, by asset sale
The client portfolio and its renewals transferred into your existing licence; liabilities stay behind. Every client must be told and can refuse to move, and retention is your risk from day one. Priced on recurring income, and only sensible when you already run the platform it lands on.
Clean liabilities. Price it with an earn-out.
Which buyer are you?
A consolidator can pay a multiple of income for a book because it drops onto a platform it already runs. A first-time buyer without a licence, staff or system is buying the whole machine, and a lender will read it at a multiple of normalised earnings. Know which buyer you are before you bid. Note the tax as well: vendors usually prefer a share sale, buyers an asset sale, and the price should show who gave way.
The rebuild
Brokerages are advertised on earnings that assume the vendor works for nothing.
Almost 44% of businesses are sole proprietors, and the industry research says it plainly: owners who draw from profit keep labour costs low and give the impression of higher profitability. Add the insurer profit-share that attaches to the vendor’s volume, and the lapse that follows any change of hands, and the advertised number moves.
| The rebuild | Amount | Why it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring brokerage income, renewals only | $1,500,000 | The base. New-business commission and one-offs are excluded; they are not yours yet. |
| Earnings as presented | $600,000 | The number the listing leads with. |
| A principal broker at market, wage plus super | − $150,000 | The vendor drew from profit. Someone has to hold the licence and the relationships, and be paid for it. |
| Insurer profit-share and volume bonuses that do not transfer | − $45,000 | They follow the vendor’s volume or the network, not the client. |
| First-year lapse at 6% of income | − $90,000 | The 94% network benchmark, applied to a book whose broker has just changed. |
| Network fees, PI and platform at your terms | − $25,000 | Your licensee’s terms and your insurer’s premium, not theirs. |
| What the lender assesses | $290,000 | The business has not changed. Only your understanding of it has. Your loan is sized on this number, not the advertised one. |
Illustrative only, to show the shape of the adjustment. Not a valuation and not a representation about any particular business. Multiples referred to on this page are market conventions, not IBISWorld figures. General information only, current at September 2026.
At 3× recurring income the asking price on that book reads $4.5 million. At 7× the earnings a lender can see, a valuer reads about $2.0 million. The gap is not a dispute about the business; it is the difference between a buyer who already runs a platform and one who is buying the whole machine.
Run the rebuild on a real listing.
Type the numbers from any information memorandum. Edit every adjustment. They are yours, not ours.
Enter the asking price, the recurring income and the earnings as presented to see the rebuild.
Illustrative arithmetic on figures you enter, not a valuation, not advice, and no representation about any particular business. Lenders make further adjustments of their own. General information only.
Get the real number for your deal →
30 minutes with Priyank, at no cost. We review your position and discuss how we will approach funding your deal. No lender sees anything until you say so.
Wages are 12.2% of industry revenue and falling, on a workforce paid an average of about $135,000. A brokerage whose wage line looks like the industry average may simply be one where nobody is paid to hold the licence.
The first look
A week beside the renewal desk tells you more than any information memorandum.
Ask for the policy register and the lapse report before the financials. Then sit in for a renewal week, watch how each renewal is handled from invitation to bound cover, and take a notebook. Re-marketed with three quotes and a written recommendation is a broker; rolled over on the expiring insurer with a fee added is an administrator. Clients who ask for “their” broker by name are the goodwill.
What to count while you are there
Retention: policies and income renewed as a share of those due, by class and by client, over three years. The network benchmark is about 94%. A blended figure with no detail is a finding in itself.
Rate versus count: how much of the income growth came from premium rises and how much from new clients. Five hard-market years flatter every book on the market.
Income by source: commission, broker fees, insurer profit-share and volume bonuses, premium-funding commission, interest on the trust account. Only commission and fees follow the client; the rest follow volume, the funder or the bank.
Concentration: the top ten clients as a share of income, and the largest insurer or underwriting agency as a share of premium placed. Either above a third is a finding. And read it by month: renewal dates cluster, and an annual total hides a June that carries half the book.
What to ask the owner, face to face
Who holds the licence, and what does its agreement say about a sale? An authorised representative appointment ends on change of control unless the licensee consents, and some agreements give the licensee first refusal, or a claim on the clients.
Which network, and what does it cost to stay or to leave? Steadfast, AUB and Envest brokers hold 96.6% of industry revenue as IBISWorld measures it. Membership brings markets, systems and buying power, and an exit clause.
Who do the clients ring? If the answer is you, from your mobile, that is the relationship I am buying, and it walks unless the restraint and the handover hold.
What is in the trust account, and when was it last reconciled? Client money held under section 981B of the Corporations Act must reconcile to the cent. A deficit is a licence problem, not a bookkeeping one.
What has changed in the last twelve months: an insurer’s appetite, a lost account, a staff broker who left with clients? And why this price?
Two searches, ten minutes
Search the AFSL and every authorised representative on ASIC’s professional registers: licence status, conditions, and whether anyone is banned or disqualified. Then search the Australian Financial Complaints Authority’s published determinations and ASIC’s media releases for the business and its principals. Ten minutes, and it has ended deals.
Score them side by side. The brokerage with the most likeable principal is rarely the one the numbers favour, so fill the comparison in the same week you see the data room, while the numbers are still in your notes.
The screening register
One is a negotiation. Three is a walk.
In a market where three networks compete for the same books, walking away costs you a listing, not a business. These are the recurring twelve, and the remedy for each.
Income and retention
Retention you cannot see. No lapse report by policy, or a blended figure with no class or client detail. Three years of lapse data as a condition; no data, no offer.
Growth that is all rate. Income up 30% while the policy count stood still. Rebuild the income at flat premiums and price the count, not the cycle.
Ten clients carrying the book. The top ten above a third of income. Meet them before exchange, and tie the earn-out to their retention.
Profit-share counted as recurring. Insurer volume bonuses and network profit-share in the earnings base. Strip them out and value the commission and the fees only.
Licence, network and consents
A licence that cannot move. An authorised representative agreement that ends on change of control, or a first-refusal clause unread. The licensee’s written consent before the heads of agreement.
Consents assumed, not obtained. Clients must be told and can refuse to move to a new licensee; the vendor’s letter is not their consent. The process and timetable go in the contract, and the price falls with refusals.
A network you cannot afford to leave. Exit fees, equity buy-backs or system lock-in that make the membership the real vendor. Model staying and leaving.
One insurer holding the book. More than a third of premium with one insurer or agency. Placement by insurer for three years, and a test of what moves if the terms change.
Compliance and people
A trust account that does not reconcile. Client money short, late, or mixed with operating funds. Twelve months of reconciliations, checked by your accountant. Any deficit: walk.
Complaints, claims and breaches. AFCA determinations, professional indemnity claims, reportable breaches, or a strata book with undisclosed remuneration. Registers for three years, and run-off cover priced and in the contract.
The owner’s wage is not in the numbers. A principal broker at market wage plus super, so you compare like with like.
The book is the vendor. Clients ring a mobile, no staff hold relationships, no restraint on offer. Twelve months’ handover, a restraint that holds, and an earn-out. Or no deal.
Anything touching the licence counts double
A broking book is a set of relationships held under a licence. Everything you pay assumes the clients can be serviced under your name from settlement, so a licence or consent problem is not one finding among twelve. It is the finding.
The funding
Funding is decided on the submission, not only the deal.
A broking book has no property behind it, which makes presentation matter more, not less. What is achievable turns on the normalised earnings, the retention evidence, the earn-out and vendor terms, the security position, and whether any property sits behind the transaction. Lending against the business alone typically funds 50–70% of a purchase price; property-backed structures reach up to 100%, deal and policy dependent.
Get your capacity assessed first
Before you negotiate, not after, and for the structure you are buying: a book, a licensed brokerage and an AR practice fund differently. Deposit workings are set out on our business deposit guide.
Equity behind you changes the answer
Where there is property equity, the structure available is materially different from a cash-flow facility against goodwill alone. Worth establishing before you offer.
The earn-out shares the risk
Lenders read a retention-based earn-out as evidence: the vendor’s money stays behind the renewals. Agree it before the heads of agreement and the funding conversation gets shorter.
Subject to lender criteria, security position and eligibility. We arrange credit; we do not provide legal, tax or accounting advice. Whether a structure is right for you belongs with your solicitor and accountant, and we work alongside both.
Nine questions, two minutes. Then a call within four business hours. No credit enquiry, and no lender sees anything until you say so.
Take it with you
The 7-page guide is at no cost, and written to be read before the data room.
The 7-page guide
The three ways a brokerage changes hands and what each one is worth, the rebuild worked line by line, the renewal-desk checklist, the 12 deal-killers with a scoring register, the documents to ask for before you make an offer, and two pages of IBISWorld’s July 2026 industry figures distilled to what a buyer needs.
Direct download. No email required.
Then send us the book
The policy register, the lapse report, the financials, the agreements bundle and the compliance file. Within 24 hours you have our answer: fundable, not fundable, or what’s missing. Once you accept our quote, your written Action Plan follows within one business day: what happens, in what order, the funding pathway scoped for that book, an indicative pricing band, and the finance clause date your contract needs.
30 minutes with Priyank, at no cost. We review your position and discuss how we will approach funding your deal. No lender sees anything until you say so.
Fair questions
Straight answers.
How much is an insurance broking book worth in Australia?
A book of business is commonly priced on a multiple of recurring brokerage income, meaning the commission and fees that renew, while a licensed brokerage is priced on normalised earnings. The convention quoted in the market for a book is around three times recurring income today, up from about two and a half times a few years ago; for a brokerage it is a multiple of earnings that rises with size and with how many of the networks are bidding. Those are conventions, not valuations. The number that matters is what renews after the vendor leaves, which is why the lapse report and a retention-based earn-out decide the real price. IBISWorld does not publish transaction multiples; treat any figure as the start of a negotiation.
What is the difference between buying an insurance broking book and buying a brokerage?
Buying the book is an asset sale: the client portfolio and its renewals are transferred into a licence you already hold, the vendor’s liabilities stay behind, and every client must be told and can refuse to move. Buying the brokerage is usually a share sale: the AFSL, the insurer agencies, the staff, the systems and the trust account come with the company, and so do its history, its professional indemnity tail and its staff entitlements. A third route is an authorised representative practice, where the business trades under another licensee’s AFSL and that licensee’s agreement governs what can be sold and to whom.
Do you need an AFSL to buy an insurance broking business?
You need to be able to service the clients lawfully from settlement: either your own Australian financial services licence, or an appointment as an authorised representative of a licensee. Applying for a licence takes months; an AR appointment can take weeks but depends on the licensee’s consent and terms. In a share sale the licence comes with the company, subject to ASIC’s fit-and-proper requirements for the new controllers. Settle the licence pathway before the heads of agreement, because it decides whether the deal can complete at all.
What retention rate should an insurance broking book have?
IBISWorld reports AUB Group’s brokered policy retention at around 94%, even through the premium rises of recent years, and that is a fair line for a well-run commercial book. Ask for the lapse report by class and by client over three years rather than a single blended figure. A book claiming more than the benchmark with no report is untested; one below about 90% has a reason you need to find before you price it. Whatever the figure, an earn-out tied to retention through the first renewal cycle under your name is how the vendor shares the risk.
Can you get finance to buy an insurance brokerage?
Yes. A broking book is funded on cash flow rather than property, so lenders assess the normalised earnings, the retention evidence, client and insurer concentration, the licence and network arrangements, and your own record in the industry. Lending against the business alone typically funds 50–70% of a purchase price; where property equity sits behind the transaction, structures reach up to 100%, deal and policy dependent. A retention-based earn-out and vendor terms change what a lender will carry. Get your borrowing capacity assessed for the structure you are buying before you negotiate. Subject to lender criteria, security position and eligibility.
What due diligence should you do before buying an insurance broking business?
Five documents first: the policy register with every policy’s client, class, insurer, premium, commission rate, fee and renewal date; three years of financials and tax returns with monthly income by source; the lapse and retention report by class and client; the agreements bundle covering the AFSL or AR agreement, network membership, insurer and agency agreements, the professional indemnity policy and staff contracts; and the compliance file with trust account reconciliations, the complaints register, the breach register and any AFCA matters. Then meet the top ten clients, confirm the licensee’s written position on the transfer, and search ASIC’s registers and AFCA’s determinations for the business and its principals.
Is the insurance broking industry growing in Australia?
It has grown fast and is forecast to slow. IBISWorld puts industry revenue at $24.0 billion in 2025–26 after growth of 4.9% a year over five years, driven by premium rises rather than client numbers, with profit up 8.1% a year and margin at 27.7%. Its forecast is growth of 1.6% a year to $26.0 billion by 2030–31, with the number of businesses falling as the networks consolidate. Commercial clients are 74.4% of revenue and the part of the market where brokers hold their ground; retail lines face direct insurers and comparison sites.
Why do insurance brokerages sell to Steadfast, AUB or Envest?
Because the three networks hold 96.6% of industry revenue as IBISWorld counts it, and their scale gives member brokers markets, systems and buying power a standalone brokerage cannot match. Steadfast (53.2%), AUB Group (25.5%) and the Ardonagh-owned Envest Group (17.9%) grow largely by acquisition, and the ACCC’s merger notification regime, in force since January 2026, now adds friction to those deals. For a buyer that means two things: the book you are looking at is almost certainly inside a network, so its membership agreement and exit terms are part of what you buy; and the networks’ competition for good books sets the price and is also your exit.
The 7-page guide covers the three ways a brokerage changes hands, the rebuild, the 12 deal-killers, the documents to ask for and the industry figures behind the price. Download it here → No email required.
30 minutes with Priyank, at no cost. We review your position and discuss how we will approach funding your deal. No lender sees anything until you say so.
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