RYAN SPECIALTY HOLDINGS, INC. (RYAN)

Ryan Specialty is an international specialty insurance service firm founded by Patrick G. Ryan in 2010. It provides distribution, underwriting, product development, administration, and risk management services to insurance brokers, agents, and carriers, acting as a wholesale broker and as a managing underwriter with delegated authority from insurance carriers. It is compensated primarily by commissions and fees. The company reports that it is the second-largest U.S. P&C wholesale broker and the second-largest U.S. P&C managing underwriter by premium volume. It has no retail operations, which it says avoids channel conflicts with its retail broker trading partners.

The business is organized into three Specialties. Wholesale Brokerage, operating mainly as RT Specialty along with brands such as RT ProExec and CERT, distributes specialty property, casualty, professional lines, personal lines, and workers' compensation products from carriers to retail brokerage firms. It generated $1,489.1 million of net commission and fees in 2024, or 60.6% of the total. Binding Authority, under the RT Specialty and RT Binding Authority brands, handles larger-volume, smaller-premium policies with well-defined underwriting criteria for carriers that have delegated underwriting authority and administrative and distribution responsibilities to the company. It generated $320.4 million, or 13.0%. Underwriting Management, branded collectively as Ryan Specialty Underwriting Managers, operates 39 MGAs and MGUs plus a National Programs Platform. They design, underwrite, bind, and administer coverage for specific risks or industry classes on behalf of carriers. It generated $646.2 million, or 26.3%. Underwriting Managers underwrites over 300 individual products. Since inception, the company has acquired over 55 firms to expand its talent, products, and geographic reach.

Its customers are retail insurance brokers, from global and national firms to regional and local ones, and insurance carriers ranging from Lloyd's syndicates to multi-line underwriters and E&S specialists. The company has access to over 30,000 retail brokerage firms and over 350 carriers, with preferred relationships with substantially all of the top 100 retail brokers. It operates in all 50 states. In 2024, 78% of the premiums it placed were in the excess and surplus (E&S) market, which includes Lloyd's of London and allows more flexibility in terms, conditions, and rates than the Admitted market. Citing AM Best, the U.S. E&S market had $116 billion of direct written premium in 2023 and grew at a 10.5% CAGR from 2010 to 2023, versus 4.6% for the Admitted market. The company attributes this to complex, hard-to-place risks such as severe weather, cyber threats, and social inflation. It also points to consolidation among retail brokers and carriers, and to retail brokers' "wholesale panel consolidation," as supporting its growth.

Its distribution network includes over 700 revenue-generating Producers in Wholesale Brokerage and Binding Authority, and its Producer retention rate was 98% in 2024. It recruits and develops talent through programs such as Ryan Specialty University. It competes with other wholesale brokers and managing underwriters, including smaller wholesalers that mainly offer access to underwriting capacity, and it says its scale, talent, and product breadth differentiate it.