Amwins: insurance broker profile

Overview

Amwins is the largest independent wholesale distributor of specialty insurance in the United States by its own description (we did not verify a current ranking). It does not deal with the public. A business owner buys through a retail agent or broker, and that agent sends the difficult or specialized part of the account to Amwins, which then finds coverage with surplus lines insurers, Lloyd's syndicates and underwriters. In its own terms, retail agencies and underwriters are its two relationships: its site lists 35,259 retail agency relationships and 42,819 underwriter relationships.

A release dated December 11, 2025 gives more than $45 billion of annual premium placements and more than 155 offices worldwide, with headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. Amwins is private and does not publish audited revenue. Aggregator estimates of revenue range from about $6.8 billion to more than $10 billion, and we do not rely on them. The company also does not give a headcount in the pages we reviewed; its site says it passed 900 employee-owners by 2020. Scott Purviance, who joined as chief financial officer in 2001, has been chief executive since May 1, 2018.

History

The company's own timeline begins in 2000 with the establishment of its wholesale insurance business, and we could not confirm a founding year from its pages, so this profile does not state one. Parthenon Capital Partners became a partner in 2005 and stayed through 2012, according to the same timeline. Annual premium placements grew from $11.1 billion in 2015 to the current figure above $45 billion.

Ownership has since moved through several investor groups. In November 2023 Amwins completed a $1.0 billion recapitalization in which Dragoneer Investment Group, Genstar Capital and SkyKnight Capital, with participating employee shareholders, bought equity from more than 375 employee shareholders and from the Canadian pension investor PSP Investments. PSP rolled about 80% of its position forward, and the employee group remained the largest single owner with about 40%, according to trade coverage of the deal. Amwins describes itself as "100% owned by employee shareholders and institutional investors."

Services

Amwins runs several businesses under one name:

• Wholesale brokerage: receives submissions from retail agents for property, casualty, professional liability, cyber, transportation, energy, and other specialty lines, and places them with insurers. See wholesale brokers and surplus lines placement: how hard risks get insured and excess and surplus lines insurance explained.
• Underwriting: Amwins Underwriting and Amwins Program Underwriters act as managing general agents and program administrators that underwrite on behalf of insurers; see Managing general agents (MGAs): what they are and what they mean for buyers and program business: niche insurance through program administrators.
• Binding authority: pre-approved authority to quote and bind smaller risks.
• Benefits: the group benefits division was renamed Amwins Benefits on April 2, 2026.

Who it serves

Its customers are retail insurance agents and brokers, not policyholders. A contractor with a bad loss history, a restaurant with coastal property or an operator with a large liability exposure usually learns about Amwins only because the agent uses it. Choosing between wholesalers is the agent's decision, and the same agent may also use Ryan Specialty or CRC Group. A business owner can ask the retail agent which wholesaler was used, how many insurers were approached, and how the placement was compensated. See Declined for coverage? Where hard-to-place businesses find insurance and independent agent, broker, captive agent or direct? for how this layer fits the buying process.

How it is paid

Amwins is private, and the pages we reviewed did not set out a compensation disclosure. A wholesaler is generally paid a commission by the insurer on the policies it places, and it splits that commission with the retail agent who owns the client. Where it operates as a managing general agent, it is also typically paid commissions and fees by the insurers it underwrites for, and additional incentives are possible. We did not find an Amwins statement on contingent or supplemental commissions, so we do not describe any. Surplus lines policies also carry state premium taxes and stamping fees, which are separate from broker pay; see surplus lines taxes, stamping fees and diligent search and how commercial insurance brokers get paid.

Recent deals

Amwins' newsroom lists these 2026 announcements:

• Joseph Chiarello & Co. (September 2, 2026): a managing general agent for the firearms industry, joining Amwins Underwriting.
• Jackson-Lloyd (July 1, 2026): an MGA focused on occupational loss protection and non-subscriber insurance, joining Amwins Specialty Casualty Solutions.
• NARDAC (May 4, 2026): an energy and infrastructure broker; Amwins first invested in 2020 and then bought the remaining shares.
• Other 2026 moves: a hospitality practice launched on February 19, and a lawyers professional liability program was folded into Amwins Program Underwriters from January 1.

Trade coverage also reported on October 6, 2026 that Amwins launched illumin Specialty, an MGA for hard-to-place general liability and excess liability. Earlier, Amwins bought Worldwide Facilities from Genstar Capital in 2021. See private equity and the consolidation of insurance brokers for the wider context.

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strengths: very large placement volume, which gives it access to many insurers; a mix of wholesale, binding authority and underwriting; employee ownership.
• Weaknesses: not available to buy from directly; limited public financial disclosure, so size is described by premium rather than revenue; a layer of compensation and surplus lines tax that applies to any wholesale placement; and acquisition of MGAs means Amwins can sit on both sides of some placements, which a client may wish to ask about.

How to contact Amwins