LONDON (Oct. 29, 2012) – Aon Risk Solutions, the global risk management business of Aon plc (NYSE: AON), today announced that its Aon Risk Maturity Index earned an Alexander Hamilton Best Practices silver award from Treasury & Risk magazine, which recognizes excellence and innovation in treasury management and finance at top companies and multinationals worldwide. The Aon Risk Maturity Index was recognized for finding a positive relationship between the maturity of an organization’s risk management framework and its financial performance.

Created in partnership with The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the Aon Risk Maturity Index is a proprietary online tool designed to empower risk and finance leaders to assess the development level of their organization’s risk management structure and implementation.

Using a preliminary set of index data for publicly traded companies, ranging from mid-sized firms to the largest Fortune 100 organizations, the study determined a statistically significant relationship between the organization’s risk maturity rating and financial performance. The findings reflect that higher risk maturity ratings are associated with improved return on stock performance during bearish stock markets and reduced stock price volatility in good times and bad. Looking ahead, the components of maturity associated with these performance differences are likely to vary by industry and Aon is continuing to collect data by sector to develop deeper insights.

“By launching the index and performing extensive analysis, we have answered the question business leaders have been asking for years: Does better risk management really make a difference to our bottom line?” said Theresa Bourdon, group managing director, Aon Global Risk Consulting - Americas. “The writing was on the wall, and now we have the facts to support the importance of a strategic risk management framework that can empower results for clients.”

“This awards program recognizes the top talent at some of the world’s largest organizations. Aon’s development of the Risk Maturity Index truly represents the unparalleled creativity and innovation that we honor at the Alexander Hamilton Awards,” said Ezra Steinberg, program development manager at Treasury & Risk.

The Aon Risk Maturity Index was launched in 2011 and has captured responses from senior risk and finance leaders from more than 430 organizations around the world. As the database continues to grow, Aon and research partner Wharton will continue to analyze the results across a number of criteria and offer critical benchmark insight as it relates to financial performance, stock volatility and additional important factors of interest to risk and financial leaders. Additional information on the Aon Risk Maturity Index can be found at http://www.aon.com/riskmaturityindex.

Aon received the award at the Alexander Hamilton Best Practices Summit and Awards program on Oct. 1 in New York City.

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About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE:AON) is the leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing services. Through its more than 62,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to empower results for clients in over 120 countries via innovative and effective risk and people solutions and through industry-leading global resources and technical expertise. Aon has been named repeatedly as the world’s best broker, best insurance intermediary, reinsurance intermediary, captives manager and best employee benefits consulting firm by multiple industry sources. Visit www.aon.com for more information on Aon and www.aon.com/manchesterunited to learn about Aon’s global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.

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