Insurance intermediaries saw their revenue rise 1.8% last year to reach £17.6bn – up from £17.29bn in 2019.
The £313m increase was mostly driven by a £235m rise in insurance-related income, but revenue from retail investments more than doubled to £62m while mortgage-related revenue almost doubled to £94m.
However, figures from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) show the number of firms registered as insurance intermediaries dropped by 11% from 4,888 to 4,352.
The FCA data does not breakdown any further, so it is not possible to show how much was earned by those operating in the health or protection markets compared to their general insurance colleagues.
For all insurance advisers commission remained the dominant income stream, rising by £420m while revenue from fees and charges rose slightly and other income dipped by £140m
Big get richer
On a firm-size basis, the largest and smallest advisers saw the greatest increase in revenue, with those in the middle actually seeing incomes drop.
Insurance intermediaries earning less than £100,000 over the year saw their average revenue increase by 4.7% to average £37,450 per firm.
Meanwhile the 208 largest businesses earning more than £10m witnessed a 5.6% increase in their average revenue, sending typical revenues soaring by £3.5m to £66.9m.
However, those firms earning between £500,000 and £10m saw their average revenue fall by £21,000 per firm to an average of 2.16m.
Overall, revenue from all non-investment insurance distribution including by mortgage brokers and investment advisers rose by 1.2% to £18.62bn.
And revenues for all financial advice firms rose by £116m to £24.24bn, despite the number of registered firms falling by 641 to 11,226.