Sydney, 17 August 2012 – Aon Australia, a business of Aon plc (NYSE:AON), has won the Large Broker of the Year Award at the Australian Insurance Industry Awards.

Hosted by the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) and founding partner Asia Insurance Review (AIR), the awards honour achievements within the Australian insurance market.

In winning the Large Broker of the Year Award category, Aon was recognised for its innovative, business-wide approach to responding to market needs and developing and delivering client-focused solutions.

In particular, the judging panel commended the Aon Risk Survey, the Aon Risk Maturity Index, Currency magazine and Aon WorldAware as great examples of ways in which Aon is taking a market-leading approach to assisting the business community.

The Aon Risk Management Benchmarking survey tracks trends and costs associated with managing and financing risk across Australasia, while the award-winning Aon Risk Maturity Index assists organisations in understanding risk management maturity levels and how they can achieve best practice.

Aon’s thought leadership publication, Currency, provides clients and prospects with insights into topical risk and insurance issues and reviews market trends, while comprehensive safe travel program, Aon WorldAware, helps organisations protect their business travellers.

Aon was also recognised for its ‘client promise’ – a global service model that ensures every client gets the best customised risk advice and brokerage services in the industry – which has produced exceptional client outcomes as well as improved client retention rates through increased client satisfaction.

The judging panel also took note of how Aon helped organisations through the natural disasters of 2011 and how it lead the way in claims management by adopting a collaborative and holistic approach to assisting clients with claims.

Aon’s innovative approach to developing and delivering client-focused solutions has improved business retention rates across all segments of its business, and resulted in significant revenue increases for the Aon Global Risk Consulting business.

“The industry recognition that comes from this award emphasises our market leadership, dedication and commitment to delivering distinctive client value,” said Steve Nevett, Chairman, Pacific Region, Aon Risk Solutions.

"This is a tremendous achievement for Aon and I would like to thank all those involved in the activities and initiatives that contributed to Aon’s winning of this award. I would also like to acknowledge the dedication and quality of all of our people and the efforts they make every day on behalf of our clients and our business,” he said.

The Large Broker of the Year Award, which was adjudicated by a distinguished panel of industry judges, as well as being independently audited by Ernst & Young, was based on the following criteria:

• In-depth knowledge and understanding of the market through research
• Innovation to deliver outstanding customer service
• Industry leadership exhibited through innovation, service, people, policy and communications
• Business retention and growth
• Sound financial management and provision of information by the applicant company
• Commitment to people development
• A demonstrated effort to improve the image of the industry
• Promotional efforts that will be undertaken should the award be won

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 http://www.aon.com for more information on Aon and http://www.aon.com/manchesterunitedto learn about Aon's global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.