Independent home and auto insurance brokers are increasingly consolidated into larger companies. What does that mean for the future of the industry? And for consumers?

Mary Beth McInnis grew up figuring that one day she would take over Peake & McInnis, the family’s insurance brokerage firm. After all, she was the fourth generation in the business, which is based in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

“That’s definitely something I thought about—that someday I would operate the business. But, as time went on, it just seemed like it didn’t make sense,” said McInnis, who is president of the Insurance Brokers Association of P.E.I. and sits on the board of the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada.

With valuations so high, “It’s become harder than ever to afford to purchase a brokerage,” she said. And if her parents were to wait until she was in a position to buy the company, they “would never have been able to retire.”

There’s been a trend towards consolidation in the property and casualty industry across Canada for years now. A once fragmented industry with thousands of independent brokers, it is increasingly under the control of large companies like Intact Financial, Western Financial Group and Westland.

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