Glossary
Wholesale broker (courtier grossiste)
An intermediary that designs insurance products by relying on one or more risk carriers, then makes them available to a network of retail brokers rather than selling them directly to customers.
A wholesale broker negotiates underwriting and management delegations with one or more insurers for a product it has designed itself, then makes that product available to a network of independent brokers (retail brokers, or direct brokers), who distribute it to their own customers under their own commercial brand.
The end customer is generally not in contact with the wholesale broker, but with the retail broker who placed the policy with them. The name of the wholesale broker and that of the actual risk carrier nonetheless appear in the contractual documents, distinct from the commercial name displayed.
Example
A health insurance product for expats distributed under several different commercial brands may, in reality, have been designed by a single wholesale broker and placed with the same risk carrier.
Also searched as: insurance wholesaler · product-design broker
To go further: How we are paid: a policy's distribution chain