placement service agreement (PSA)
Also called a market service agreement (MSA), this is an agreement between
an insurance intermediary and an insurer that includes a type of contingent
commission program based predominately on the volume of business placed with
an insurer with little or no relation to the profitability of the business placed
with the insurer. This type of payment is considered to present a greater conflict
of interest for the insurance intermediary in representing the interests of
the policyholder and was the type of agreement that the New York attorney general
focused on during his attack on contingent commission practices in 2003–2005.
This approach is viewed quite unfavorably by the risk management and insurance
community and is rarely if ever used today, at least by the largest firms. See Contingent commission.