Brokers are increasing their share of the insurance distribution markets in commercial and personal lines. The change comes despite insurer predictions that brokers’ share of the markets will fall.

The annual JP Morgan Deloitte General Insurance Industry Survey shows broker dominance of the commercial insurance market has grown 12% over the past five years.

It has grown by a more modest 1% over the past 12 months and now accounts for a claimed 75%. The growth has generally come at the expense of underwriters’ own direct distribution channels.

In the personal lines market, an increase in advertising costs for the big insurers has done little to affect distribution trends. The amount of business sourced by brokers and third-party distributors has increased nearly 4% over the past five years. At the same time, direct distribution has declined 6%.

JP Morgan and Deloitte say insurers would be disappointed with those results – particularly because of the extra investments some made to increase their share of the market.

“When taken collectively, our data on the change in personal lines distribution suggests that little overall benefit has been achieved in terms of the relative dominance of direct forms of distribution,” the report says.

The analysts suggest brokers have been clear winners in both markets and have made much greater success of their investments. “It is obvious that the brokers have successfully expanded the scope of their operations over the past five years.”