DUBAI, 20 June 2008 - Aon Middle East announces the opening of its regional headquarters in the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC), following the news that the company has been granted a full license to operate within the DIFC.

Aon has operational offices in the UAE (Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi), Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, Jeddah, Al Khobar), Bahrain and Oman (Muscat, Salalah) and developing offices in Kuwait and Qatar. The new regional headquarters in the DIFC will provide clients with expert advice, as well as innovative products. It will also allow clients to link into the worldwide Aon network across 120 countries, combining global presence with specific country expertise that can facilitate the most complex of cross-border transactions.

These six states, which form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), have witnessed breath-taking economic growth over the last few years, with the level of investment in infrastructure quite startling. Altogether, a total of US$1.25 trillion of public and private projects are either being planned or are already in development in the GCC.

Latif AlRayes, Chairman of Aon's Middle East operations, comments: "We are very pleased to have received our DIFC licence and with the free zone fast moving towards its goal of becoming the fourth major world financial hub, it make sense for us to locate our regional headquarters here."

Massoud A. Shaheem, Chief Executive Officer of retail operations, (SEO - DIFC), comments: "The opening of our office in the DIFC reflects the increasingly open approach in providing services in the region.

"Aon has been serving the Middle East for almost 30 years and we are committed to leveraging our specialist and global expertise to play an integral role as the regions insurance sector rapidly evolves, brought about by the astonishing pace of growth.

"These infrastructure projects mean that attitudes to risk are evolving and new insurance and risk management products designed specifically for the region are springing up almost as fast as the new building projects.

"It is a very exciting time for us and for our clients, and we expect to be announcing further developments over the coming weeks and months."

Ends

For more information contact:
Reuben Aitchison, +44 (0)20 7086 7201, reuben.aitchison@aon.co.uk
http://aon.mediaroom.com 

About Aon
Aon Corporation (NYSE:AOC) is the leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting. Through its 36,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon readily delivers distinctive client value via innovative and effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Our industry-leading global resources, technical expertise and industry knowledge are delivered locally through more than 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Aon was named the world's best broker by Euromoney magazine's 2008 Insurance Survey. Aon also was ranked by A.M. Best as the number one global insurance brokerage in 2007 based on brokerage revenues, and voted best insurance intermediary, best reinsurance intermediary, and best employee benefits consulting firm in 2007 by the readers of Business Insurance. For more information on Aon, log onto www.aon.com.

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