For decades, the insurance broker has been one of the cornerstones of the Belgian insurance market. Unlike in many other countries, brokers have built strong local relationships, often becoming the trusted face of an insurer without actually working for one. They know their customers personally, advise them on suitable policies and frequently become the first person people call when disaster strikes. That human connection has always been their greatest strength. After all, people rarely buy insurance because they enjoy reading policy conditions or comparing premiums. They buy insurance because they want peace of mind.
That trust did not emerge by accident. Insurance remains one of the few financial products where customers pay every year in the hope they will never have to use it. When a claim eventually occurs, emotions quickly take over. Suddenly, policy wording, exclusions and legal nuances become critically important. Having an experienced professional who understands both the customer and the insurer can make an enormous difference. A respected broker can often navigate complex discussions, coordinate the claim process and, when necessary, challenge an insurer’s interpretation of the contract. In many situations, that expertise is genuinely valuable.
Yet behind this successful model lies a contradiction that has existed for decades but is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Brokers present themselves as independent advisors acting in the customer’s best interest, yet in almost every case they are paid by the insurer through commissions. Economists describe this as the principal-agent problem: the interests of the customer and the incentives of the advisor are not perfectly aligned. If a lawyer defending your case were paid by the opposing party, most people would immediately question that lawyer’s independence. In insurance, however, this structure has long been accepted as normal.
This does not imply that brokers deliberately act against their customers. Most undoubtedly strive to provide honest advice and build long-term relationships. Nevertheless, remuneration influences behaviour, even subconsciously. A broker typically represents only a limited number of insurers, each offering different commission structures and commercial incentives. Customers therefore receive advice that is filtered through commercial relationships they rarely see. As long as the customer is not the one paying for the advice, it remains difficult to argue that the advice is entirely independent.
Traditionally, brokers justified their position through four major promises: superior service, broader coverage, better pricing and professional claim support. For many years, those arguments were convincing because customers simply lacked access to information. Brokers understood complex policy wording, knew which insurers offered the most suitable products and possessed market knowledge that ordinary consumers could not easily obtain.
Today, however, that informational advantage is steadily disappearing. Digital comparison platforms already allow consumers to compare premiums within minutes. Artificial intelligence increasingly explains policy conditions in plain language, highlights differences between contracts and answers technical questions that once required specialist knowledge. Risk calculators continue to improve, while chatbots and digital assistants are becoming remarkably effective at guiding customers through standard insurance products. Knowledge is becoming commoditised.
The comparison with the travel industry is striking. Travel agencies once played an indispensable role because booking flights, hotels and holidays required specialist knowledge and access to reservation systems unavailable to the general public. As online booking platforms emerged, standard holidays became almost entirely digital. Most consumers no longer needed an intermediary to book a weekend city trip or a beach holiday. Yet travel advisors did not disappear completely. Instead, they specialised. Luxury travel, complex international itineraries and bespoke experiences still benefit from expert guidance because these situations involve uncertainty, personal preferences and countless variables that technology alone cannot fully optimise.
Insurance appears to be following exactly the same trajectory. Standard products such as car insurance, home insurance, travel insurance and family liability insurance are becoming increasingly transparent and standardised. Embedded insurance is accelerating this trend even further. Customers already purchase travel insurance while booking airline tickets, phone insurance during online checkout or cyber insurance bundled with software subscriptions. In these situations, there is little reason to involve a broker. The buying process becomes almost frictionless.
That evolution does not diminish the importance of insurance itself. It merely transforms insurance into something much closer to a commodity. Customers will increasingly compare products digitally, rely on AI to identify coverage gaps and expect instant quotations without human intervention. Price transparency will continue to grow, making it difficult for insurers to justify paying substantial commissions for products that customers can increasingly purchase themselves.
Ironically, this digital evolution exposes another fascinating reality within the insurance ecosystem. Insurers may own the risk, but brokers own the relationship. That explains why experienced brokers can sometimes move entire portfolios of customers from one insurer to another. The true asset is not the insurance contract itself but the trust that has been built over many years. It is precisely this trust that insurers have effectively rented through commission payments.
The question, however, is whether that relationship alone will remain sufficient to justify the current remuneration model. As European regulation increasingly emphasises transparency, conflict-of-interest disclosure and customer-first advice, commission-based intermediation is likely to face growing scrutiny. Customers themselves are becoming more digitally confident, particularly younger generations who value speed, self-service and online comparison far more than visiting a local office. The environment in which brokers once flourished is changing rapidly, and technology is only accelerating that transformation.
None of this means that insurance brokers are destined to disappear. On the contrary, there are parts of the insurance value chain where human expertise may become more valuable than ever. The paradox is that while buying insurance is becoming simpler, using insurance is not. Purchasing a policy may soon take no more than a few clicks. Filing a complex claim, interpreting contractual clauses or negotiating a disputed settlement can still take weeks or even months. This is where technology reaches its limits and professional judgement begins.
Customers do not necessarily need an intermediary to purchase a standard home or car insurance policy anymore. They do, however, need someone they can trust when an insurer questions liability, disputes the extent of the damage or interprets exclusions differently. In those moments, customers are not looking for the cheapest premium. They are looking for an expert who stands unequivocally on their side.
That is precisely where the future role of the broker begins to emerge. Rather than acting primarily as a distributor of insurance products, tomorrow’s professional will increasingly become an independent insurance advisor. The distinction is more than semantic. A broker is rewarded for selling insurance. An advisor is rewarded for providing advice. The difference fundamentally changes whose interests are being served.
The remuneration model should evolve accordingly. Instead of receiving hidden commissions from insurers, advisors could be paid directly by the customer, much like lawyers, accountants or fee-only financial advisors already are today. Several pricing models are conceivable. Customers might pay an hourly rate for complex advice, agree on a fixed fee when designing an insurance portfolio or compensate an advisor based on the value created. If an advisor successfully negotiates a significantly better settlement after a disputed claim, a success fee linked to the additional compensation could create incentives that are finally aligned with the customer’s interests.
Such a model removes one of the biggest contradictions in today’s insurance market. Advice becomes transparent because customers know exactly who pays their advisor and why. The advisor no longer needs to favour one insurer over another because commissions differ. Independence is no longer claimed; it becomes structurally embedded in the business model itself.
Technology will reinforce this evolution rather than undermine it. Artificial intelligence will continue to automate routine tasks. It will compare policy wording, identify coverage gaps, estimate risks and prepare claim documentation faster than any human ever could. But automation does not eliminate expertise. It changes where expertise adds value. Just as tax software did not eliminate tax consultants, AI will not eliminate insurance specialists. Instead, it will free them from repetitive administrative work so they can focus on judgement, negotiation and strategic advice.
This shift also creates opportunities beyond traditional brokerage. Advisors could increasingly help customers prevent risks instead of merely insuring them. Businesses may seek guidance on cyber resilience, climate adaptation or liability prevention. Families could receive proactive advice on home security, legal exposure or emerging digital risks. In this model, the advisor’s objective is no longer to sell another policy but to reduce the likelihood and impact of future claims. That creates value for customers, insurers and society alike.
Demographics will further accelerate this transition. Younger generations are comfortable arranging straightforward financial products online. They expect transparency, instant service and digital convenience. They are unlikely to visit a local office simply to renew a standard insurance policy. At the same time, these same customers still value expert guidance when facing complex financial decisions or stressful life events. The demand for advisors will not disappear; it will simply become more selective and more specialised.
This means the future insurance advisor is unlikely to be a generalist serving every possible customer. Instead, specialists will emerge in fields where expertise genuinely matters: cyber insurance, healthcare, construction, international mobility, complex liability, SME risks or high-net-worth individuals. Their knowledge will become deeper, their customer relationships stronger and their added value easier to demonstrate. There may ultimately be fewer intermediaries in the market, but those who remain could become considerably more valuable.
Insurers themselves should not fear this transformation. For years, brokers solved expensive challenges on their behalf by acquiring customers, building trust, providing local presence and supporting claims. Those functions remain important. The difference is that distribution of standard products will gradually become digital, while specialised advisory services will evolve into an independent profession. Both models can coexist, each serving different customer needs.
Digital comparison platforms, such as Independer, Mijnvergelijker.be or Verzekeringen.be, should therefore not be viewed as a threat but as a glimpse of what is coming. Comparing premiums is only the first phase of digitalisation. The next phase will involve AI comparing policy conditions, identifying hidden exclusions, recommending optimal combinations of products and continuously monitoring whether customers remain adequately insured. As these capabilities become mainstream, the informational advantage of traditional brokers will continue to shrink.
Ultimately, the insurance industry is not witnessing the disappearance of human expertise. It is witnessing a redistribution of where that expertise creates value. Standard insurance products will increasingly become digital commodities, purchased quickly and effortlessly through online platforms or embedded directly into other services. Complex advice, personalised risk management and claim handling, however, will become premium services for which customers are willing to pay directly.
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