Add a New Carrier, Wholesaler, or MGA

Last updated: July 30, 2025

This is a guide that will teach you:

  • How Ascend tracks carriers, wholesalers, and MGAs

  • Add a new carrier or MGA to the platform

  • Define funding instructions to ensure accurate payouts

How Ascend Tracks Carriers, Wholesalers, and MGAs

Ascend maintains a database of over 3,000 carriers, wholesalers and MGAs, including their location, payment information, contact information, and payment preferences. We've been building and maintaining this list since Ascend was founded.

We track each location or "branch" of a company as a unique entry in our database and most of the largest companies (Travelers, RT Specialty, Amwins, etc.) are well-represented in our database.

Setting up the carriers and wholesalers your agency uses the most (we call this "favoriting") helps set your team up for fast data entry and reduced manual errors.

Favorite a Carrier or Wholesaler

"Favoriting" a carrier or wholesaler makes it easier for your team to find them when creating programs in Ascend. When you favorite a carrier or a wholesaler, it adds the text "Used by [Your Agency] in the company picklist when someone on your team is creating a program. This allows you to differentiate the RT Specialty office that you work with from the hundreds of other offices that we track in our database, example below:

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Step-by-step instructions - Producers

This feature is available to users with Admin, Accounting, or Producer permissions

  1. Click "New Program"

  2. Select the carrier or wholesaler dropdown, depending on the type of company you're attempting to create

  3. Begin typing the name of the company until you see the message "Not seeing what you're looking for? Add here"

    1. CleanShot 2025-07-30 at 14.39.09.png

  4. Enter the organization's details. Please include an invoice/statement that references the office address or includes remittance details. This will help us process the request as quickly as possible.

  5. Click "Save"

Step-by-step instructions - Admins

This feature is only available to users with Admin or Accounting permissions

  1. Go to the Wholesalers/Carriers section of your settings menu.

  2. Click "Add new"

  3. Search for the company you want to add - you can search by name or address

    1. If the company is Ascend's database, click on the company, then click "Save"

    2. This will pull this company up to the top of the Carrier/Wholesaler picklist when your team is creating a program.

Note the address of the company you select should match the address they provide on the invoices/statements they send to you

  1. If the company is not already in Ascend's database, select "Create" from the upper right corner

  2. Enter the organization's details. Please include an invoice/statement that references the office address or includes remittance details. This will help us process the request as quickly as possible.

  1. Click Save to proceed.

  2. The favorited supplier will now appear to producers when creating programs to speed up entry and reduce errors.

New MGAs and carriers must be vetted and approved for financing by our team before we can offer financing on a policy through that carrier on a program. This requires our team to directly be in contact with the MGA or carrier. If you need to expedite this process, please contact [email protected] or your Ascend representative

Funding Details and Preferences

  1. After saving a carrier or wholesaler, you will be directed to add their funding details. From this page, you can Configure payment methods, set default rates for commission, and manage underwriting contacts.

  2. First, set up a payment method for the supplier. The remittance information inputted should belong to the carrier or MGA, not your agency. If the carrier/mga info you provide is not in our system or is different from what we have, the status will appear as "Pending" until approved in our system.

    ACH is preferred, as funding times are faster than mailed check payments.

  3. [Optional] Configure funding settings for how this supplier will be paid.

  4. [Optional] Add additional billing contacts who may be useful for this carrier/MGA

Contact Us

Need more help? Contact us at [email protected] for more help.