What is a Life Insurance Brokerage General Agent?

A life insurance Brokerage General Agent (BGA) is an independent agency or individual working for an insurance company, whose main function is to sell life insurance products to independent life insurance producers. Producers then sell the policies to their clients. In addition to selling policies, many BGAs provide supportive services for individual producers, including taking applications, processing cases, providing quotes and answering underwriting cases.

Details about a Life Insurance Brokerage General Agent

A BGA essentially acts as an insurance wholesaler. They have the authority to accept and place applications, appoint agents on behalf of the insurance carrier and provide underwriting and administrative services.

Typically, a brokerage general agent can provide the education and knowledge to insurance producers on a variety of products. This benefits agents and insurers because carriers have difficult to understand products, producers know their clients better than anyone else, thus the expertise of BGAs provides exceptional value to suggest an ideal product and bridge the knowledge gap.

Many brokerage general agencies can function as the back office of an independent insurance producer, with support at the request of the agent. Their primary objective is to provide a profitable, cost effective, and efficient way to process any insurance opportunity a producer would rather not do on their own.

Services Provided by Brokerage General Agents

• Customer service: Answers calls and emails. Replies to status inquiries. Provides insurance quotes, product training, and education.
• New business: Processes new applications, scrubs forms, requests missing documents and information, and orders medical exams.
• Requirement processing: Oversees the case and contacts the producer when requirements are necessary
• Agent licensing: Handles all agent and agency carrier-contracting matters for agent’s that will be writing business through the brokerage general agent.