London, 1 July 2013 – Aon Hewitt, the global talent, retirement and health solutions business of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) has announced the that it has worked with the insurance company Ambac Assurance UK on successfully implementing the reorganisation of Ambac's asset strategy with a broad-based bond portfolio managed with Aon Hewitt's Dynamic Benchmark approach.

Aon Hewitt launched its investment consulting services to the insurance market last year, building on the knowledge and experience it had gained in the corporate sector.

Dynamic Benchmark Bonds is an approach that has been used by Aon Hewitt clients since the early 2000s.  It allows asset owners to exploit both the stock picking opportunities in the global bond universe and the relative country and sector opportunities.  Each year, Aon Hewitt's Global Asset Allocation team identify the sectors of the global bond universe that are most attractive on a medium term view, and create a bespoke blended benchmark from those sectors to target an individual client's risk and return objectives.  This then becomes the reference benchmark for the active bond manager.

The approach has had remarkable success – out-performing the Global Aggregate index by 3.5% per annum over a 10 year period and even substantially out-performing risk assets such as equities and property – with lower volatility.

Tim Currell, partner at Aon Hewitt  and lead consultant on the project, said:
"Despite the exceptionally low yields on bonds at the moment, many institutional investors are still making significant investments in bond markets as a means of controling their overall investment risk.  We believe that our tried and tested approach to Dynamic Benchmarking of global bond portfolios offers a real opportunity for our clients to wring the best possible returns from this asset class.

"Today, and for the foreseeable future, investors will have to work hard to achieve good returns on their assets; Dynamic Benchmark Bonds is just one way in which we are helping our clients to exploit the broadest possible range of opportunities even within traditional asset classes."

Media Contact: 

Colin Mayes                                        Adam Leviton
 Aon Hewitt                                          Capital MSL
 01372 733689                                     020 7307 5339
 colin.mayes@aonhewitt.com                adam.leviton@capitalmsl.com

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About Aon Hewitt
Aon Hewitt empowers organisations and individuals to secure a better future through innovative talent, retirement and health solutions. We advise, design and execute a wide range of solutions that enable clients to cultivate talent to drive organisational and personal performance and growth, navigate retirement risk while providing new levels of financial security, and redefine health solutions for greater choice, affordability and wellness.  Aon Hewitt is the global leader in human resource solutions, with over 30,000 professionals in 90 countries serving more than 20,000 clients worldwide.  For more information on Aon Hewitt, please visit www.aonhewitt.com.

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 61,000 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.