Insurance brokers in Germany are, on average, 53.7 years old. Only 4.4 percent are 30 or younger, and one in three plans to retire within the next 15 years. The broker registry currently contains about 179,000 entries—a good 30 percent fewer than in 2011. A wave of retirements is sweeping through the industry—and there are few newcomers to replace them.
And what about the young people who choose this career anyway? They spend a lot of time on tasks that aren’t the reason they chose this profession. In a survey conducted by BFV and AssCompact, nearly three out of four brokers reported spending one workday a week or more on documentation and regulatory obligations.
The ITHM webinar on November 10 will examine the challenge facing the industry from two perspectives:
An Inside Perspective: Norman Wirth
What can insurers do to attract young talent? How can they organize sales, training, and collaboration with insurance brokers in a way that draws young talent and keeps them around? Norman Wirth is an attorney and a specialist in insurance law, as well as the founder and senior partner of the Berlin-based law firm Wirth Rechtsanwälte. For more than 20 years, he has held a leadership role at the AfW Federal Association of Financial Services, which represents approximately 40,000 insurance brokers. In January 2026, he received the FinanzBusiness Prize for outstanding contributions to the insurance brokerage industry.
The Outside Perspective: Simon Harlinghausen
How can AI free young professionals from tedious administrative work so they have more time for what their profession is all about: advising people, solving individual problems, and developing new products. Simon Harlinghausen has founded several digital companies, was Facebook’s very first customer in Germany, and, starting in 2021, headed Miele X, Miele’s global digital hub. In his experience, about 95 percent of highly repetitive digital tasks can now be automated—in a deterministic, effective, and fully traceable manner. Humans remain the final authority in the process.
Following the two presentations, there will be ample opportunity to ask questions.
Target Audience
: Managers from sales, human resources, training, and agent support, as well as digital and AI experts at insurance companies.
Your added value
- Two Perspectives on a Problem: How Insurers Are Organizing Internally and How AI Is Easing the Daily Workload of Young Professionals
- Specific Strategies for Attracting and Retaining Young Talent
- A realistic look at what administrative tasks AI can already handle today and where human input is still needed
- Open Q&A session with both speakers