Insurance brokerage valuations built on your renewal register, not a rule-of-thumb multiple.

An insurance brokerage valuation is an independent, written opinion of what a general insurance broking business or client book is worth to a willing buyer on a set date. The value rests on recurring brokerage and fee income, how reliably clients renew, the spread of income across insurers and clients, the licence structure the book sits in, and the cost of servicing it. Agency Valuations prepares fixed-fee reports for book sales, principal exits, buy-ins and authorised representative transfers: $1,495 + GST where the annual recurring income of what is valued is under $2 million, delivered in 2 business days.

When does an insurance brokerage need a valuation?

Most broking valuations follow a change in who owns or controls the income. The trigger sets the valuation date, the basis of value and who will rely on the report.

• ·Selling or buying a client book, in whole or in part
• ·Selling the whole brokerage, by share sale or business sale
• ·A principal retiring, or a co-owner being bought out
• ·An account executive or incoming principal buying in
• ·An authorised representative selling a book or moving licensee
• ·Moving the book into a company or family trust, where tax law needs a market value for related-party transfers
• ·A shareholder dispute, a buy-sell agreement trigger or a lender's request

What drives the value of an insurance broking book?

Two books with the same income can be worth very different amounts. A buyer pays for income that will survive the next few renewals, net of servicing cost, so each driver is tested against your own data.

• ·Renewal retention, by client count and by income: a book can keep its client numbers while losing its larger accounts
• ·Revenue mix: brokerage income from insurers, broker fees and premium funding or other income, each with its own durability
• ·Class of business: personal lines, SME packages, specialist classes and corporate accounts renew and price differently
• ·Insurer concentration: how much income depends on one insurer, agency agreement or binder
• ·Client concentration: the share of income from the largest accounts, and whether they deal with one account executive
• ·Key people: whether relationships sit with the principal, with staff bound by restraints, or with the brokerage
• ·Systems: clean, client-level data in the broking system that a buyer can migrate
• ·Cost to service: staff time per account, office and system costs, and licensee or network fees

Is the book or the whole brokerage being valued?

The answer changes the method and the fee band. A book sold on its own is a bundle of client relationships and renewal rights, valued on the recurring brokerage and fee income it will keep producing for a buyer who already has the staff, systems and licence to service it.

A whole brokerage also includes the team, brand, new business capacity, systems and any licence it holds. It is usually valued on maintainable earnings, with the principal's pay adjusted to market, and checked against the value of the recurring income.

For the fee, a book on its own is banded by its annual recurring income, and a whole brokerage, or shares in it, by its total annual turnover: brokerage, fee and other income, not the premium you place.

How do licence and authorised representative arrangements affect value?

A business providing financial services must hold an Australian financial services licence covering them, or provide them as an authorised representative of a licensee (Corporations Act ss 911A and 916A). That structure decides what a buyer acquires.

Where your company holds its own licence, a share sale can carry the licence with the entity, along with its complaints, breach and claims history, and ASIC must be told of the change in control no later than 30 business days after it happens. In a business sale the licence stays behind, so the buyer needs its own authorisations.

Where you are an authorised representative, your licensee agreement often decides who owns the client relationships, whether the licensee must consent to a sale, what restraints apply, and whether the licensee holds a first right of refusal or a formula buy-back price. A formula price is a contract term, not market value, and the report explains any difference.

Do client consents and the Code of Practice affect a buyer's price?

Since 9 July 2025, where a broker gives personal advice to a retail client on a general insurance product, the insurer remuneration is conflicted remuneration unless the client gave informed consent first (Corporations Act ss 963B and 963BB). A consent can cover renewals if that was disclosed and the renewal rate is no higher than the rate disclosed (s 963BB(3)). Section 963BB(4) covers a sale: where an advice business is wholly or partly sold or transferred to another licensee or representative, a client's existing consent is taken to also be a consent to the benefit being given to the new recipient. A buyer should still have a lawyer confirm how that applies to the deal. Your consent records travel with the book, and gaps are priced.

Many brokers also subscribe to the Insurance Brokers Code of Practice, which the National Insurance Brokers Association owns and publishes and the Insurance Brokers Code Compliance Committee monitors. A buyer will ask whether you subscribe and about your complaints history.

Why does a rule-of-thumb multiple mislead for broking books?

Broking books are often discussed as a multiple of recurring income. A multiple quoted by a buyer comes from their analysis of a different book, often by an acquirer pricing in savings from merging your clients into its own licence, systems and insurer arrangements. A standalone buyer cannot pay for those savings.

Headline prices also mix in deal terms: some of a price may be deferred and adjusted for retention, which is not the same as cash at completion. The report states what the value assumes about the buyer and the terms, and shows the implied multiple as a cross-check.

What does an insurance brokerage valuation cost?

Fees are fixed in writing before work starts and never depend on the value concluded. Delivery time starts once payment and all required information have been received. Every report is signed by a suitably qualified business valuer and follows the guidelines of APES 225 Valuation Services. We value books and brokerages; we do not broker them, hold no AFSL and give no financial product advice.

• ·Small Business Valuation: $1,495 + GST where annual revenue is under $2 million, 2 business days
• ·Medium Business Valuation: $2,495 + GST for $2 million to $3 million, 3 business days
• ·Large Business Valuation: $3,495 + GST for $3 million to $10 million, 3 business days
• ·Above $10 million: quoted in writing before work starts, delivery date agreed before commencement
• ·Expert report for a dispute or court: $4,495 + GST, delivery date agreed before commencement
• ·Add-ons: +$495 per retrospective (past) valuation date and +$795 per additional entity