Aon Corporation, Arup Establish Strategic Alliance to Expand, Enhance 'Rapid Response'

CHICAGO, Sept. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aon Corporation , the world's number one provider of insurance and reinsurance brokerage and global risk management services, and Arup, the global multidisciplinary engineering and consulting firm, today announced a strategic alliance that brings to the marketplace an unprecedented pre- and post-loss consulting service that offers clients an independent, global catastrophic risk management solution.

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The alliance increases the depth and breadth of Aon's "Rapid Response," a loss mitigation and claims advocacy service borne out of Aon's experience following hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma in 2005. In addition, it enables the creation of a pre-loss service offering aimed at preparing clients for catastrophic events, to be called "Rapid Response Engineered."

Clients will further benefit from access to Arup's Catastrophic Risk Management consulting services, which include the development of long-term risk management solutions, site-specific risk assessment and financial/engineering analysis. These services complement many of Aon's disciplines including natural catastrophe modeling, enterprise risk management, business continuity planning, and property risk control.

"Aon is very excited to bring this worldwide alliance with Arup to our clients," said Stephen Cross, CEO of Aon Global Risk Consulting. "In times of crisis this partnership will greatly assist in reducing the impact of loss to our clients. In addition to supporting and extending our existing Rapid Response service, it will enable us to bring a range of new resources from Arup to our valued Aon clients."

As a global provider of multidisciplinary services for business and the built environment, Arup brings a comprehensive technical background built on decades of experience, having engineered some of the most complex structures in the world. This background provides a solid foundation to its consulting activities on behalf of clients seeking to manage catastrophic risk.

"As events of recent years have shown, there is a significant need for corporations to develop long-term plans for managing their risk that include not only insurance but also facility/portfolio planning and analysis, risk mitigation and post-loss support," said Jim Quiter, leader of Arup's consulting sector work in the Americas. "Aon and Arup together have both a unique opportunity and proven capability to respond to this need."

Paul Graziano, CEO of Aon Global Rapid Response, said: "Aon's Global Rapid Response model provides clients with a critical service 'continuum' which begins at brokerage and ends at claim resolution. The Aon & Arup partnership further enhances our ability to extend this valuable solution to address risk management needs when disaster strikes."

Aon's Rapid Response guarantees on-site expertise from a highly-skilled loss mitigation and insurance claim professional within 48 to 72 hours anywhere in the world. These experts manage the initial activity surrounding the property loss, and act as an extension of the client's risk management department to ensure that a sound, pragmatic recovery plan is developed and implemented. Currently, the team consists of 500 Aon professionals around the globe including risk engineers, construction estimators, attorneys, forensic accountants, coverage experts, and remediation specialists intimately familiar with helping mitigate losses and building solid claims strategies.

For additional information, contact Arnold Mascali of Aon at 212-274-9100 or Andy Thompson of Arup at 415-946-0705.

About Arup

Arup is a global firm of engineers, planners, designers and business consultants providing a diverse range of professional services to clients around the world. The firm is the creative force behind many of the world's most innovative and sustainable buildings, transport and civil engineering projects. Established in 1946, the firm exerts a significant influence on the built environment and has more than 9,000 employees in 79 offices and 31 countries, together working on up to 10,000 projects at any one time.

About Aon

Aon Corporation 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.

This press release contains certain statements relating to future results, 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 the general economic conditions in different countries around the world, fluctuations in global equity and fixed income markets, exchange rates, rating agency actions, resolution of pending regulatory investigations and related issues, including those related to compensation arrangements with underwriters, pension funding, ultimate paid claims may be different from actuarial estimates and actuarial estimates may change over time, changes in commercial property and casualty markets and commercial premium rates, the competitive environment, the actual costs of resolution of contingent liabilities and other loss contingencies, and the heightened level of potential errors and omissions liability arising from placements of complex policies and sophisticated reinsurance arrangements in an insurance market in which insurer reserves are under pressure. 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.

Media Contacts: Aon Corporation Arup Rahsaan Johnson William Dentzer 312.381.2684 212.897.1385 Rahsaan_Johnson@aon.com William.Dentzer@arup.com