LONDON (22 November, 2013) - Aon Global Risk Consulting, the risk management consulting arm of Aon plc (NYSE: AON), and Optial (UK) Limited have collaborated to create the first truly integrated Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) system for the commercial insurance and reinsurance sector.

The GRC platform facilitates the connection of board level vision and strategy with real day-to-day operational controls and processes, thereby defining and realising a clear operating model that remains proportionate to each undertaking’s specific requirements.

The rich functionality of the Optial solution, combined with the subject matter expertise of the Aon team produced a solution in which a firm’s objectives can be related to its defined risk appetite and associated policies, combined with a comprehensive platform supporting the internal control system and risk register assessments.  

The solution addresses the requirements of Solvency II across the various Governance Functions from the Board itself to Risk Management, Compliance and Internal Audit, thus creating a streamlined architecture that fosters interaction across all organisational levels at minimal operating cost. Preparation of the qualitative aspects of the ORSA report and Pillar 3 reporting requirements are also a feature of the new GRC platform.

This integrated GRC solution was first demonstrated in October 2013 at a seminar in Luxembourg to over thirty commercial insurance firms.  The feedback was extremely positive with multiple requests for follow up sessions already scheduled, and similar events are being planned across Europe in the coming months.

The result of this partnership is a truly unique offering. Aon’s Solvency II experts can help clients to consolidate all existing elements of their Solvency II Pillar II preparations into a single consistent and proportionate target operating model, bringing what are sometimes expensive Pillar II projects to a conclusion. The team can also provide, whenever necessary, additional enhancements to their GRC platform to ensure it is a true reflection of the firm’s intended System of Governance, making the target operating model a truly dynamic and scheduled operating system.

Chris O’Brien, founder and CEO of Optial commented, “Optial has always provided a functionally rich solution for its clients but the collaboration with the team from Aon adds a whole new dimension of expertise focusing on content and methodology within the insurance sector.  The combined team is ideally placed to help those commercial insurers looking to address their Solvency II requirements in an efficient, effective and systematic manner.”

Fabrice Frere, Managing Director and co-lead of Aon’s Solvency II Steering Committee commented, “Aon has been helping clients for the last couple of years with Pillar II implementation. The key challenges have always been proportionality, consistency, cost control, and turning responses to Solvency II requirements into a truly dynamic System of Governance so that the undertaking can operate effectively and at limited cost. The collaboration with Optial has been developed to address these challenges in a practical way and our GRC platform is the answer.”

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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 65,000 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. Aon GRIP is the company’s Global Risk Insight Platform.

Aon provide highly advanced and specialised Solvency II advice in the areas of risk management, risk and capital modelling, corporate governance, operational efficiency and actuarial services. 

About Optial (UK) Limited

Optial (www.optial.com) is a leading supplier of enterprise-wide Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) and Operational Risk Management (ORM) solutions for all types of business. Our products have been implemented in over 50 countries by companies such as Standard Chartered Bank, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (SEB), and Atos. Our customers benefit from the flexibility of the Optial platform and the collaborative approach taken by our consultants to guide them through to successful deployment. Optial is headquartered in London.

Optial offers a platform for managing key business assurance activities – more efficiently and more effectively. Optial is a fully web based solution that supports and scales to both point and enterprise wide solutions. It allows organisations to better manage their objectives, risk, audit, control and compliance activities in response to a wide range of industry specific regulatory and governance requirements such as Solvency II, Basel II,  and AML, as well as others which apply more broadly like Sarbanes-Oxley and COBIT. Optial adds value across multiple sectors such as insurance, banking and asset management, as well as non-finance areas such as rail, pharmaceuticals and oil & gas. In addition Optial provides a sound platform for EHS compliance across all industries.

Media Contacts:

Katherine Conway
+44 (0)20 7086 7201
katherine.conway@aon.co.uk

Peter Baldwin
+44 (0)20 7247 7673
press@optial.com