Insurance Brokerage

The average Swiss insurance brokerage is valued at 5.0 - 7.0× EBITDA on a statutory (tax-based) basis and 6.5 - 9.0× EBITDA in actual transactions. The spread between statutory and deal multiples represents an arbitrage opportunity for informed buyers. The current market trend is consolidation, with an arbitrage gap rated as medium. In this niche the multiple sits on a book of recurring commissions, so the price depends on how much income is renewal business rather than new sales, how much comes from health insurance, where compensation is capped and repayable if a contract ends early, how concentrated the book is on a few corporate clients, and whether the relationships stay with the firm when the owner leaves.

Key valuation drivers include: A premium pool of about CHF 56.6bn in Swiss business (SVV projection for 2025), with non-life premiums up 3.1% in 2025 on FINMA data; Since 2024 FINMA's register lists untied intermediaries, those acting in the client's interest, separately from tied agents, so a broker's status can be checked by name. Factors that can compress valuations include: Small firms: 2,473 enterprises share 16,159 full-time equivalents, about 6.5 per enterprise in 2024; Client relationships rest with individual advisers, which makes key-person risk the central issue in a sale. Deal multiples typically range from 6.5 - 9.0× EBITDA, but actual prices vary significantly based on customer concentration, management quality, revenue predictability, and geographic reach within Switzerland's 26 cantons.

It depends on what is counted. The Federal Statistical Office counted 2,473 enterprises in the insurance agents and brokers class (NOGA 662200) in 2024, with 19,588 employees or 16,159 full-time equivalents; the count has fallen in every year since its 2019 peak of 2,746. FINMA's register of insurance intermediaries held 11,987 entries on 13 September 2026, natural persons and legal entities together. Since 1 January 2024 that register lists untied intermediaries, who act for the client, while tied intermediaries working for an insurer are generally no longer entered, so the register counts the people and firms who broker independently and STATENT counts every enterprise in the class, agencies included. The largest cantons by enterprise count are Zurich (411), Vaud (283), Geneva (231), Bern (204) and Ticino (187). The ~2,200 registered intermediaries and 600-700 independent brokers given in the February 2026 edition of this report match neither source.

Succession in Swiss insurance brokerage shows up in the commercial register as absorption. The number of broker enterprises fell from 2,746 in 2019 to 2,473 in 2024 while employment rose, and platforms such as ASSEPRO, Howden, Qualibroker and Aon record the absorbed firms in their own entries. No published source measures owner ages or succession planning in the sector, and the February 2026 edition's figures — 1.5-2.5x annual commissions, 85-95% client retention, 1,000+ global deals a year and 20-40% higher prices for planned sales — had no source and are withdrawn. What a buyer can check is concrete: whether the target and its advisers appear in FINMA's register of untied intermediaries; how much commission income comes from health insurance, where compensation is capped and repayable in full if a contract ends within a year; how concentrated the book is on a few corporate clients; and whether clients have signed broker mandates with the firm rather than with the departing owner. Owners who document those points and introduce a successor to their main clients before a sale give a buyer less to discount. Deal multiples for the sector typically run 6.5 - 9.0× EBITDA.

Four trends define the sector in 2026: (1) Fewer firms, same headcount — The Federal Statistical Office counted 2,473 insurance agent and broker enterprises in 2024, down from a peak of 2,746 in 2019 and lower in every year since. (2) The register was rebuilt around untied intermediaries — Since 1 January 2024 the revised Insurance Supervision Act has limited FINMA's register to untied intermediaries, those in a fiduciary relationship with their clients, while tied intermediaries are assigned to their insurer and generally no longer listed. (3) Roll-ups run through the commercial register — Swiss broker consolidation is best measured in merger entries. (4) Health-insurance selling was capped — From 1 September 2024 the Federal Council declared the health insurers' industry agreement on intermediaries binding for every health insurer.

The principal acquisition risks are: (1) Insurer consolidation narrows the choice of carriers: after the Helvetia-Baloise merger, management is working to deliver CHF 350m of cost synergies (PwC, 2026); (2) Cross-border competition: since 1 January 2026 the Berne Financial Services Agreement lets British insurers write selected non-life lines into Switzerland, and SIBA objects that British brokers face lighter requirements; (3) A growing regulatory load for every untied intermediary, with SIBA criticising recertification exams weighted towards health insurance. Buyers should conduct thorough due diligence on customer concentration, regulatory compliance, and key-person dependencies. Deal multiples of 6.5 - 9.0× EBITDA may be discounted for firms with elevated risk profiles.

An indicative cost split for a Swiss insurance broker is: Personnel (account managers, advisers, claims and specialist staff): 50%, Commissions shared with sub-agents & introducers: 18%, IT, broker software & data exchange: 10%, Office & administration: 8%, Registration, training, liability cover & compliance: 7%, Profit margin (EBITDA): 7%. Indicative split for a mid-sized Swiss broker; no published source measures the cost structure or margins of Swiss insurance brokers, and the February 2026 edition's senior-broker salaries of CHF 100K-180K and commission rates of 15-25% of premiums had no source and are withdrawn. What is measured is scale: BFS STATENT counts 16,159 full-time equivalents across 2,473 enterprises in 2024, about 6.5 per firm, so personnel and shared commissions dominate most budgets. The only published commission limits apply to health insurance, where the binding industry agreement caps compensation at CHF 70 per insured person in basic insurance and 16 net monthly premiums per contract in supplementary insurance. For a buyer, the question is which of these costs follow the advisers who hold the client relationships, and how much commission income is exposed to the health-insurance caps.

Switzerland's insurance brokers cluster in five regions: (1) Zurich (ZH) — The largest cluster: 411 of 2,473 broker enterprises and 3,716 of 16,159 full-time equivalents in 2024, about nine per firm. (2) Lake Geneva (GE/VD) — 514 enterprises — 283 in Vaud and 231 in Geneva — with 2,333 full-time equivalents, so more firms than anywhere outside Zurich but smaller ones. (3) Bern and Mittelland (BE/FR/SO) — 332 enterprises and 2,317 full-time equivalents, led by Bern with 204 firms and 1,598 FTE. (4) Central Switzerland (LU/ZG/SZ) — 251 enterprises and 2,027 full-time equivalents, with Lucerne the largest employer at 988 FTE. (5) Ticino (TI) — 187 enterprises and 856 full-time equivalents. Consolidation has reached the canton: Howden absorbed Assiteca SA in Lugano in 2023, Aon took over Assimedia SA in Locarno in 2026, and ASSEPRO and Qualibroker operate from Bellinzona and Lugano. The canton of a firm's seat is not always where its book sits: platforms such as ASSEPRO, Howden and Aon run branches in several regions from one registered seat.