RSUM’s Wuller: DUA market only in “second innings” of development

By Chris Munro

May 29 - (The Insurer) - There remains plenty of growth potential in the delegated underwriting authority (DUA) market with the sector only in the “second innings” of the expansion and service it can provide to the specialty insurance industry.

That is the view of Miles Wuller, CEO of Ryan Specialty Underwriting Managers, who told attendees during the Program Manager Conference 2025 that a favourite question from public investors is: “What inning are we in?”

Investors, he said, regularly ask how much carrier interest remains in the space, how much farther can the market grow, and what opportunities still exist in terms of M&A.

And Wuller believes the industry’s development is still in its early stages.

“The more time I spend in this amazing industry, the clearer it becomes to me that we are only in the second innings of the growth and service we can provide to the specialty industry,” the executive said.

When it comes to M&A, Wuller noted that companies operating in the DUA space continue to scale, with RSUM’s parent Ryan Specialty itself having been very active in its bid to build out its operations over the past 18 months.

The company undertook seven deals last year, including those of US Assure, Castel Underwriting Agencies and certain P&C-focused MGUs owned by Ethos Specialty.

This year has also seen Ryan Specialty acquire alternative risk-focused MGU USQRisk, and Velocity Risk Underwriters.

During his presentation, Wuller claimed the industry is “far too loose with our terminology”, while the RSUM chief also noted that DUA companies’ lifespan, which historically has been closely aligned with founders’ involvement, has been extended because of their greater scale.

“Programs and MGUs and delegated underwriting authority are often used interchangeably. The reality is, they're quite distinct, and a broad-brush descriptor hasn't been helpful in making our case known in the industry and better understood,” he said.

As Wuller noted, programs, which he described as “often retail-distributed, typically admitted package policies with lower limits”, have earned a long-standing appreciation by the carrier community.

When the industry looks upon the recent rapid growth of the delegated underwriting authority sector, Wuller said “the renaissance … of the last 10 to 15 years, which has certainly been assisted by the golden age of E&S, has unequivocally been the eruption of the true MGA and MGU entity”.

MGUs, he said, have “stepped in” to innovate in the some of the most complex, high-hazard and limit-requiring industry segments.

“MGUs, with their dramatic investment, people and process, have expanded into the white space of the industry.”

While the DUA market has recorded unprecedented growth in recent years, Wuller said “it’s critical to lengthen the lifespan of the average MGU”.

“Historically, very few MGUs have made it past the original founder (because they have) just too much concentrated knowhow (and) too many concentrated relationships.

“Scaled platforms have brought the ability to help founders not only reach new levels of achievement, but ultimately perpetuate the business into the future.”