London Market Tech Barometer 2026: The State of Modernisation, AI, and Data

The London Market has reached a structural inflection point. What was once framed as future readiness now determines whether insurers are relevant to brokers today. The 2026 Guidewire London Market Tech Barometer shows that the market’s future is being built now, and waiting for market wide initiatives is no longer a viable strategy. Delays in modernization now carry an increasingly severe competitive and commercial cost.

We surveyed more than 250 London Market brokers for the Guidewire London Market Tech Barometer 2026, and the message to insurers is clear: technology is now a deciding factor in brokers’ placement strategy. An overwhelming 78% of respondents say an insurer’s technological capability is either a very significant competitive advantage or the deciding factor when placing business. In a market where brokers have choice, inefficiency is exclusionary.

This pressure to modernize is unfolding against a complex market backdrop. While confidence in the London Market’s long-term position remains high, with over 37% of respondents "very confident" in its 10-year outlook, nearly 70% describe current market conditions as soft or softening. At the same time, capacity growth is concentrating in complex, data-intensive lines such as professional liability and cyber.

When it comes to modernization, market pioneers have stopped waiting for a silver bullet. Following repeated delays to Blueprint Two, a clear majority of market participants are forging their own path, prioritizing internal agility over market-wide consensus. The London Market appears to be moving away from convergence on a single future operating model. As firms modernize at different speeds, those that move faster are increasingly shaping the standards that others will have to align to. 

A two-speed market is emerging. Insurers investing in modern core platforms, automation, and data connectivity are not only outperforming their peers today, but also better positioned to respond to broker expectations, operate efficiently in a soft market, and compete in growth lines that reward speed and data quality. Those that delay modernization risk losing business today and competitiveness over the long term.

Broker loyalty is no longer anchored in history or relationships alone. The survey data confirms that decisions are increasingly shaped by speed, integration, and ease of doing business.

Technology now wins business. Nearly four in five (78%) brokers surveyed say insurer technology plays a decisive or highly significant role in where they place risk. This is even more significant among senior brokers and director-level respondents, demonstrating that this is not merely an operational nice-to-have, but a strategic filter applied by experienced decision-makers.

Legacy systems are the primary blocker. When asked to identify the single biggest impediment to modernisation in the London Market, reliance on outdated technology ranked the highest. In a softening market, the survey suggests brokers are becoming more attuned to efficiency and increasingly favour technologically advanced insurers.

On the other hand, insurers that require brokers to navigate disconnected portals, re-key data multiple times, or rely on email-driven workflows are increasingly deprioritised.

The delays to Blueprint Two have catalysed a shift in mindset. Rather than stalling investment until a market-wide standard is perfected, firms are taking matters into their own hands.

The market isn't waiting. A considerable number of respondents (78%[1]) indicate that they are proceeding with their own technology strategies regardless of the Blueprint Two timeline.

This momentum also introduces a new interoperability risk. Among those moving ahead independently, 31% of respondents express concern about insurers’ ability to integrate due to legacy core constraints.

The market is becoming more pragmatic, and progress can no longer wait for perfection. Insurers delaying core modernisation risk becoming structurally misaligned with broker-led workflows that are already taking shape.

[1] Combining answer options “We are proceeding with our own technology strategy, regardless of the market's timeline.” and “We are proceeding with our own technology strategy, but are concerned about interoperability (i.e. carriers' ability to integrate with brokers)”.

The growth of algorithmic underwriting is no longer a future ambition in the London Market, but its effectiveness depends on foundations that are still uneven.

Algorithmic underwriting is already a significant and growing reality. Over half of brokers (51%) say the shift toward algorithmic or fully digital underwriting is happening now, and nearly half (48%) view ‘smart follow syndicates’ positively for their ability to speed up placement, signaling increasing automation in underwriting workflows.

Data quality and consistency are the primary constraints on confidence and scale. More than a third of respondents (37%) point to fragmented standards as a leading cause of poor data quality, while the largest single group of respondents (29% ) rate a mandatory market-wide data standard as essential.
This highlights both the potential and the challenges for some insurers seeking to explore algorithmic underwriting. Without consistent data flowing into core systems, algorithmic underwriting risks remaining efficient in theory, but difficult to trust and scale in practice.

This shift also has important implications for market-wide standards. While brokers have historically been sceptical of initiatives such as the Core Data Record, the strength of these responses suggests sentiment is changing. The challenge now is ensuring that standards improve data quality and usability in practice, rather than introducing additional friction.

The Guidewire London Market Tech Barometer 2026 findings depict a market that is confident in its future, but growing impatient.

Brokers are no longer waiting for a market-wide modernisation push, and they have made it clear that they will deepen their partnerships with insurers who move faster, integrate more easily, and reduce friction across the value chain.

The growth opportunities are real, particularly in professional liability, cyber and potential new lines of business. But capturing them requires more than new products. It requires a modern core system capable of supporting speed, transparency, and interconnectivity.

Insurers that delay modernisation in the hope of future standardisation risk finding themselves misaligned with the market that emerges. Those that act now are already outperforming their peers, strengthening broker relationships, and positioning themselves for growth in high-value lines. Most importantly, they are beginning to shape the future of the London Market.