Contractual Relationships with Carriers
1. Aon plc and its affiliates (“Aon”) from time to time invest in insurance and reinsurance companies and seek an appropriate return on their investments as such. These investments for which Aon is generally at-risk for potential price loss and range from fixed income to common stock transactions. The gains or losses made through such investments potentially could be linked, in part, to the results of treaties or policies transacted with Aon clients.
Please visit our website at for a current listing of insurance and reinsurance carriers in which Aon plc and its affiliates hold any equity ownership interests. This listing may contain markets that presently have proposed quotes on your coverages.
2. Aon plc, through its reinsurance brokerage operations, act as reinsurance intermediaries for insurance companies. Generally speaking, there are two basic types of reinsurance agreements – facultative reinsurance and treaty reinsurance. When an insurer seeks facultative reinsurance, it seeks to reinsure all or a portion of the exposure it is underwriting for a particular risk, e.g., a specific insured’s property coverage. When an insurer seeks treaty reinsurance, it seeks to reinsure all or a portion of the exposure it underwrites on a particular class or classes of business, e.g., all the Directors & Officers liability insurance it has written from all sources. Aon’s reinsurance brokerage operations can assist insurance companies in their efforts to secure either facultative or treaty reinsurance and, for those services, the reinsurance intermediary may receive compensation called “ceding commissions.”
Please contact the Global Corporate Compliance Department by emailing [email protected] for information as to whether Aon's reinsurance brokerage entities may act as facultative or treaty reinsurance intermediary for markets proposed for your account.
3. Aon plc’s operating affiliates and subsidiaries are parties to numerous agreements with many insurance companies and a number of reinsurance companies, including companies from which Aon’s clients have purchased insurance, and may include companies that presently have proposed quotes on your insurance programs. These agreements include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:
*Agent/Producer Agreements –For regulatory and licensing purposes, brokers seeking to place coverage for clients in certain jurisdictions must do so under the sponsorship of and/or agency appointment of the markets to which they are introducing risks for coverage. In such instances, the particular Aon office handling the account and/or the individual team members must not only be licensed in those jurisdictions but also parties to agency agreements with the subject insurance markets. Although each insurance company utilizes its own form of agreement, they typically include certain common requirements, such as proper licensing, proof of insurance, certain standards of business operations, record maintenance and retention, compensation, and payment or remittance terms.
*Captive Management Agreements – Certain Aon operations may routinely enter into contractual arrangements with captive insurance companies to manage their operations, accounting and financial reporting.
*Claims Handling Agreements –From time to time, Aon offices may enter into arrangements with markets worldwide to handle certain administrative responsibilities which once may have been handled by the insurers themselves but which are now being outsourced to create greater cost efficiencies. These administrative responsibilities can include claims administration, certificate issuance, safety and loss inspections, and the like.
*Consulting Agreements – Certain Aon operations may from time to time enter into consulting arrangements with insurers that are unconnected to any specific insurance placement. For instance, Aon may provide actuarial or other financial analyses in order to assess, reassess and evaluate insurers’ liability reserves and financial strength; consulting services for insurers in connection with the insurers’ employee benefits plans; and strategic consulting for markets on issues such as opportunities, trends, customer satisfaction, and industry benchmarks.
*Managing General Agent/Managing General Underwriter Agreements - Certain of Aon’s operating affiliates and subsidiaries are also parties to agreements with certain insurance companies whereby these entities handle and service all administrative responsibilities of such insurance companies and/or handle and service the administrative and underwriting responsibilities for such insurance companies. These agreements are referred to as Managing General Agency or “MGA” agreements, or Managing General Underwriting or “MGU” agreements. The Aon entities that assume such roles under these agreements are paid directly for those services by the insurance companies with whom they have contracted.
*Miscellaneous Agreements – In the course of their dealings with markets, Aon plc’s subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide are from time to time required to enter into miscellaneous contractual arrangements ancillary to the business being conducted on behalf of clients – these include confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements in connection with the release of data necessary to assist in the claims handling process and loss control programs on behalf of our clients, nondisclosure and/or non-competition agreements relating to the development and disclosure of new insurance products and services, licensing agreements governing access to and use of data management systems and databases designed to enhance the value of services provided to our clients and the like.
The Agent/Producer, Claims Handling, Consulting and other Miscellaneous Agreements are too numerous and varied to list here. Please c ontact the Global Corporate Compliance Department by emailing [email protected] for information as to whether any identified prospective insurers for your insurance programs have entered into MGA/MGU or Captive Management agreements with Aon Corporation or any Aon affiliate.
Contractual Relationships with Carriers