CHICAGO, April 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aon is 20 years old today.
While the company celebrates two decades under the Aon banner, Aon and its predecessor companies can actually trace their origins back to the 1680s, when the world's first commercial insurance brokerage company was established in the Netherlands. The company, Hudig-Langeveldt, was the largest broker in continental Europe when Aon acquired it in 1991.
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Pat Ryan, Aon founder and executive chairman, said Aon's own evolution during the past 20 years has been a highlight. "It has been thrilling to see the original strategy -- that of being an advisor to the client with experts who know all about an industry -- carried forward globally."
Aon President and Chief Executive Officer Greg Case, who earlier this month celebrated his two-year anniversary as CEO, says the increasing complexity and cost of risk for multinational corporations have ushered in a new era for the world's risk managers. "Risk is a building block for opportunity like almost nothing else," Case said. "We encourage clients to focus on the 'upside' of risk as a means of developing a balanced, effective approach to managing it. Organizations that have prospered from risk have been able to understand it in a way that their competitors could not. That comes from insight, from hard work, from advice, and from perspective."
Peter Harmer, named chief executive officer of Aon Limited and country manager of Aon UK, earlier this year, says adaptability will be one of the keys to future success. "Our clients are facing bigger and more complex risk issues. The insurance sector has to change the way it views and deals with clients, from being a product-centric to client-centric. It is a major cultural shift and requires us to really understand our clients' business and the risks they face. Rather than simply acting as product resellers, we need to create innovative needs-driven solutions that will enhance our relationship with them."
Jorge Gonzalez Gale, chief executive officer of Aon Risk Services Latin America, agrees. "Latin American countries are facing the enormous challenge of rapidly changing risk exposures, as our economies undergo deep and rapid deregulation," he says. "This process has generated enormous new business opportunities for multinational clients, but the changes it triggered has also fueled social and economic turmoil in countries like Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. We can best help all our clients by quickly identifying and following-up the rapid mutation of the ensuing risk exposures."
"The array of risks facing organizations continue to increase as a result of external as well as internal factors," according to Bernard Fung, Aon Asia chief executive officer. "Externally, incremental risk arising from regulatory initiatives, shareholders expectations, rating agency requirements and competitor's advantage created by sophistication in risk management are forcing organizations to adopt a much more vigorous and holistic approach to risk management. Internally, the pressures imposed by Boards of Directors on governance, the desire to apply risk assessment to corporate decision process such as capital allocation and leveraging risk taking to enhance competitiveness are also putting new demands on risk management. Helping companies in Asia Pacific to cope with increasing risk complexities represents a huge opportunity for Aon."
"I have had the privilege of working with Aon almost since the company's inception, and I am proud of the work that we have done to help thousands of clients around the world to succeed," said Michael D. O'Halleran, the chairman, chief executive officer and first employee of Aon Re Global. "More than 400 acquisitions later, after bringing together thousands of people in different countries and of different cultures, our work has been exciting, challenging, rewarding and impactful. Our continued focus on providing innovative, customized solutions that meet the needs of our clients, we believe, will lead us successfully through our next 20 years and beyond."
April 24, 2007 will be a day of celebration for Aon offices around the world. Hundreds of special events and community outreach programs are being held at Aon offices around the globe to commemorate Aon's 20 years of global service.
Aon employees in the U.S. will hold blood drives, and volunteer at food banks in Chicago, work in neighborhood improvement projects in New York and Detroit, and volunteer at and financially support outreach programs in St. Louis, Tampa, the Delaware Valley and Winston-Salem. In Canada, Aon Reed Stenhouse will build five playgrounds in five cities across the country in Halifax, Sherbrooke, Thunder Bay, Grande Prairie and Victoria. Aon Mexico is planning a maintenance project with Fundacion Parlas, a special home that provides care for more than 40 children, most with Down Syndrome. Aon Korea is expanding its contribution to the Social Solidarity Bank, a leading micro credit institution that supports those willing, but financially unable, to start their own businesses. Aon Denmark is raising funds for children living in orphanages. Aon Russia is contributing to the Nashi Deti (Our Children) charity fund, which benefits children in orphanages. Aon U.K. is launching a range of community activities at eight locations across the United Kingdom, including the announcement of a new charity initiative designed to increase the Aon's charitable donations fund.
About Aon
Aon Corporation (http://www.aon.com/) is a leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting, and specialty insurance underwriting. There are 43,000 employees working in Aon's 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Backed by broad resources, industry knowledge and technical expertise, Aon professionals help a wide range of clients develop effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions.
For more information
Al Orendorff
312-381-3153
This press release contains certain statements related to future results, or states our intentions, beliefs and expectations or predictions for the future which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from either historical or anticipated results depending on a variety of factors. Potential factors that could impact results include: general economic conditions in different countries in which we do business around the world, changes in global equity and fixed income markets that could affect the return on invested assets, fluctuations in exchange and interest rates that could influence revenue and expense, rating agency actions that could affect our ability to borrow funds, funding of our various pension plans, changes in the competitive environment, our ability to implement restructuring initiatives and other initiatives intended to yield cost savings, our ability to execute the stock repurchase program, our ability to obtain regulatory or legislative changes to permit continuous sales of our supplemental Medicare health product, changes in commercial property and casualty markets and commercial premium rates that could impact revenues, changes in revenues and earnings due to the elimination of contingent commissions, other uncertainties surrounding a new compensation model, the impact of investigations brought by state attorneys general, state insurance regulators, federal prosecutors, and federal regulators, the impact of class actions and individual lawsuits including client class actions, securities class actions, derivative actions, ERISA class actions, the impact of the analysis of practices relating to stock options, the cost of resolution of other contingent liabilities and loss contingencies, and the difference in ultimate paid claims in our underwriting companies from actuarial estimates. Further information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's financial results, is contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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