Five forces shaping the brokerage landscape in 2026

In 2025, brokers navigated shifting client expectations, emerging risk exposures, and the accelerating impact of technology and automation.  

That momentum shows in Canada’s insurance distribution sector, valued at just over $11 billion in 2025, as brokers continue to find opportunity in a dynamic market. Now in 2026, brokers looking to excel should pay close attention to these focus areas. 

Commercial lines: Capturing the SME opportunity 

The commercial insurance market in Canada represents a significant growth opportunity for brokers, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises. Many smaller businesses underestimate the importance of commercial coverage, often believing they’re too small to need insurance or that claims are unlikely.

Yet limited resources, tight cash flow and slim margins make these businesses especially vulnerable. In fact, a survey from TD Insurance shows 40% of Canadian small business owners don’t have insurance, even though one in five cites business interruption as their biggest liability. 

Taking advantage of this market gap can give brokers a diversified revenue stream and access to growing accounts whose insurance needs will naturally evolve over time. While commercial lines quoting has traditionally been a time-consuming and manual process, technology is expected to play an even greater role in this line of business this year.

Brokers will increasingly be able to leverage automation to streamline quoting workflows, allowing them to take on more commercial accounts with greater efficiency.  

Employee benefits: Centralizing key data  

Employee benefits will continue to offer opportunity for brokers as employer healthcare costs rise, with Canada’s medical trend rate increase projected to reach 8.6% in 2026, up from 6.9% in 2025. This intensifying cost pressure will challenge employers to deliver competitive benefits programs, creating a significant opportunity for brokers to provide guidance and tailored solutions.  

Employee benefits have often been a difficult line for brokers to manage due to severe data fragmentation. Many employers offer benefits— health, dental, vision, life, disability, and wellness programs — across multiple carriers, each with its own platform, reporting format, and claims system.

This makes it challenging for brokers to get a unified view of their benefits business.  

The good news is that technology is making employee benefits easier to manage. Brokers can leverage management platforms that provide a historical view of their entire benefits business, giving instant access to key details like account and policy information in one place. This approach saves brokers time by reducing manual data entry and minimizing the number of systems they need to manage. 

Talent and retention: Securing and enabling the Next Gen 

Talent will be a critical differentiator for brokers this year as the insurance industry faces elevated attrition from an aging workforce.

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Research from the Insurance Institute of Canada projects that roughly 1,830 claims professionals nationwide will retire by 2026, widening workforce gaps as many long-tenured employees with vital experience exit the industry. It’s important to note that similar trends are affecting the broader insurance workforce, making talent retention and development a priority across all roles. 

Brokers that prioritize access to today’s technology will be better positioned to retain talent and attract the next generation of digitally fluent insurance professionals.  

Vertical AI: Turning insight into impact

Artificial intelligence will play a major role in maximizing broker revenue and saving time. 

More brokers will be using insurance-specific AI – or vertical AI – as it’s trained on industry data and workflows to deliver more accurate and actionable results. By comparison, horizontal AI provides more generalized search and content generation. 

Industry-specific applications can quickly surface insights on cross-sell and upsell opportunities, automate routine tasks like comparing key policy renewal details, or summarize account information. 

AI will increasingly free brokers from administrative tasks, enabling them to focus on growing their business. 

Industry collaboration: Pushing brokers forward  

Industry-wide collaboration is essential to the long-term success of the Canadian broker channel.

Organizations such as the Centre for Study of Insurance Operations and the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada will continue to drive standardization, process improvements, and technology adoption across the insurance ecosystem in 2026. Real progress happens when key stakeholders and industry bodies work together towards advancing growth opportunities. 

Our journey with Applied Epic in the UK taught us an important lesson. In mature markets, progress only happens when technology providers and insurers move forward together.

Without that alignment, delivering the value brokers expect becomes challenging. This experience has sharpened our focus on where we can create the greatest impact. 

In 2026, AI-driven intelligence and automation will continue to underpin key solutions across commercial lines and employee benefits for brokers and carriers. The accelerating impact of technology will also increasingly influence talent development and industry collaboration.

Taylor Rhodes is CEO Applied Systems.