How brokers are weighing business succession options

Last year, Canadian Underwriter’s National Broker Survey introduced questions exploring how broker owners plan to pass their companies on to new ownership. The questions examine two aspects of a sale – which options broker owners would consider when making a change of ownership, and which options they’d prefer to use under ideal circumstances.

We asked those questions again in 2025 and while data show succession remains top of mind, there are also shifts in how owners are approaching brokerage sales. Owners were asked to list all of their intended or preferred options, which means totals may exceed 100%. Canadian Underwriter’s 2025 National Broker Survey was fielded between Jan. 22 and Feb. 20, with 165 responses. The survey is sponsored by Sovereign Insurance.

What broker owners are considering

Looking at succession options they’d consider, 65% of brokerage owners say they’d consider selling the business to current managers and employees. That’s sharply above the 38% considering that avenue in 2024’s survey. That may suggest recent interest rate cuts have boosted owners’ confidence that their team members are able to manage the loan payments required to buy out their brokerages.

Sales to employees and managers are most popular (83%) among owners with more than 30 years in the business, and at firms with between 20 and 99 employees (70%). Male brokerage owners are more likely to favour the tactic (72%) than women owners (40%).

Brokerage owners and principals are also seriously considering (39%) selling their business shares to partners or current co-owners in 2025, although that option comes in 5% below last year’s survey.

Meanwhile there is a tie, at 35%, among owners considering selling businesses to family members or to brokerage consolidators. Those options came in at 38% and 43% respectively in 2024. In a comment, one veteran broker owner indicates she’s “already sold my brokerage to a consolidator.”

Related: How brokerage owners want to pass on their businesses

Other verbatim comments reveal a strategy of merging with, or selling to, comparable brokers to avoid taking the consolidator route. One respondent with between 16 and 30 years in the business says he’s “selling the business to competitors who specialize in the same market segment.”

Selling to private equity firms lost popularity in 2025 (23% say they’d consider this route, compared with 27% in 2024), but sales to insurance companies garners more attention (23% this year compared with 14% in 2024).

No broker owners in the 2025 survey expressed interest in winding up their businesses, compared to 3% saying they’d at least consider the option in 2024.

What broker owners would prefer

Asked about succession preferences, however, the brokers’ responses tell a different story.

Our 2025 survey finds broker owners tied, at 21%, on a preference to sell to family members or to current managers and employees. That compares to 27% and 16% respectively for those options in 2024. And 18% of 2025 respondents prefer to sell their business shares to current partners or co-owners, compared with 16% last year.

Verbatim comments from respondents show broker owners are working to identify family members who can buy their businesses. One veteran owner of a smaller brokerage says she’s “just waiting for a family member to have enough experience to take over,” adding: “I’m not a fan of most consolidators and I don’t have enough qualified managers [or] employees that would be interested.”

Drilling down into the 2025 survey’s succession preference results, 50% of women broker owners prefer to sell to family members, compared to 17% of men.

Eleven per cent of the survey’s brokerage owners prefer to sell the business to a private equity firm, the same as last year. Selling to brokerage consolidators dropped nine percentage points, to 7%, in 2025. Selling to an insurance company is 2025’s least popular option at 4%, up slightly from 2% last year.

One owner of a smaller firm with between 16 and 30 years in the business doesn’t split hairs, saying, “Private equity [and] consolidators are harming the brokerage industry…clients need and deserve to have skilled brokers who can properly advise them.”

No respondents, this year or last, say they want to see their businesses close up shop.