How is insurance distributed in Germany?
In 2024, single-tied agents wrote 37.6 percent of German life insurance new business and 41.1 percent of non-life (GDV table 13, reliability A). Multi-tied agents and brokers wrote 37.5 percent of life and 44.4 percent of non-life, banks 19.4 percent of life and 5.9 percent of non-life, and direct sales 2.4 percent and 4.9 percent. Broker pools are infrastructure behind those channels, not a channel of their own.
Updated . Figures keep their period, source and reliability grade.
Key figures
| Metric | Value | Period | Source | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Life new business: single-tied agents | 37.6 percent of new business | 2024 | GDV table 13 | A |
| Life new business: multi-tied agents and brokers | 37.5 percent of new business | 2024 | GDV table 13 | A |
| Life new business: banks | 19.4 percent of new business | 2024 | GDV table 13 | A |
| Life new business: direct | 2.4 percent of new business | 2024 | GDV table 13 | A |
| Non-life new business: single-tied agents | 41.1 percent of new business | 2024 | GDV table 13 | A |
| Non-life new business: multi-tied agents and brokers | 44.4 percent of new business | 2024 | GDV table 13 | A |
| Non-life new business: banks | 5.9 percent of new business | 2024 | GDV table 13 | A |
| Non-life new business: direct | 4.9 percent of new business | 2024 | GDV table 13 | A |
The answer
In 2024, single-tied agents wrote 37.6 percent of German life insurance new business (GDV table 13, reliability A). Multi-tied agents and brokers wrote 37.5 percent and banks 19.4 percent. In non-life, single-tied agents took 41.1 percent, multi-tied agents and brokers 44.4 percent and banks 5.9 percent. Direct sales stayed small: 2.4 percent in life and 4.9 percent in non-life.
Within the multi-tied channel, GDV reports brokers separately: 29.8 percent for life and 40.6 percent for non-life. The broker figure sits inside the multi-tied share and must not be added to it.
The numbers
Every figure behind this answer sits in the key figures table above, with its value, unit, period, source and reliability grade: A official statistics, B reconciled from published sources, C modelled estimate, D indicative.
How the number is built
GDV table 13 reports the share of new business by sales channel across member insurers. The percentages describe which channel arranged the contract. They say nothing about who advised first or how many people work in each channel.
Broker pools do not appear as a channel. They are infrastructure behind brokers and multi-tied agents, and their memberships overlap. Adding pool volumes to the channel table would double count.
The digital shares come from a different measurement, GDV and Bankenfachverband/YouGov surveys, and carry reliability C. They describe purchase behaviour, not the channel of record.
What it means for distribution
Life and non-life behave differently. Banks matter in life (19.4 percent) and barely in non-life (5.9 percent). Multi-tied agents and brokers lead non-life at 44.4 percent, which is where broker pools and comparison tools earn their place.
Direct sales have not displaced the intermediary. Even in motor, only 29 percent of purchases complete without a human. In life the figure is 3 percent. A digital product strategy in Germany is a strategy for supporting intermediaries, not for replacing them.
Savings banks and cooperative banks hold 40.5 percent and 37.2 percent of bank branches respectively (Bundesbank 2025, reliability C). The bank channel in life is therefore regional and branch-based.
Go deeper
- How many insurance intermediaries are there in Germany?: the ยง34d register categories.
- How big is the German insurance market?: premiums and contracts by line.
- Germany market intelligence: the package behind the channel analysis.
- Insurance assistant coverage: sourced answers from insurer documents.
Related questions
- Where do broker pools appear in the channel split?
- They do not. GDV table 13 reports the channel that arranged the contract. Pools serve brokers and multi-tied agents behind that channel and their memberships overlap, so adding pool volumes would double count.
- What is the broker share of new business?
- GDV reports brokers as a sub-share inside the multi-tied channel: 29.8 percent for life and 40.6 percent for non-life in 2024. The sub-share sits inside the multi-tied figure and must not be added to it.
- How much insurance is bought online without a human?
- About 22 percent overall in 2024 to 2025, 29 percent for motor and 3 percent for life (GDV survey data, reliability C). These are purchase behaviour figures from a different measurement than the channel table.
Methodology and limitations
GDV table 13 reports the share of new business by sales channel across member insurers for 2024, and the percentages describe which channel arranged the contract. Broker pools are not a channel in that table; they are infrastructure with overlapping memberships. Digital purchase shares come from separate GDV and Bankenfachverband/YouGov surveys at reliability C and describe behaviour, not the channel of record.
Primary sources
Explore Germany market intelligence