Dublin, 2 November 2009 – Aon, Ireland’s leading insurance broker, and XL Insurance have agreed an exclusive partnership to bring new capacity to the solicitors' professional indemnity (PI) market in Ireland.

XL Insurance has strong credentials in the PI market, with a successful European PI insurance operation in the UK as well as being one of the largest PI underwriters in the US. Aon has been broking PI in Ireland since 1978 with nearly 20% of the market share, including a number of solicitors with an unbroken association with Aon for over 30 years. The insurer and broker have been working closely to identify the needs of solicitors to offer tailor made solutions for the Irish market. This follows the successful partnership between Aon and XL Insurance offering solicitors’ PI cover in the UK.

Gerry Conway, director of Aon’s professional indemnity team, said: "Solicitors want the confidence that whatever their size, they will be able to access competitive rates and market-leading cover. Working with XL Insurance reinforces Aon's commitment towards offering market leading professional indemnity insurance for Irish solicitors."

"XL Insurance has many years' underwriting experience in the PI market," added Bill Wharton, Chief Underwriting Officer, Professional Lines UK & Ireland for XL Insurance. "We are pleased to be supporting legal firms in Ireland as a primary PI insurer as well as bringing much needed capacity and competition to the market."

“We have had a presence in Dublin’s International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) since 1990” noted David Gallagher, Country Manager for XL Insurance in Ireland. “Over the last two decades XL Insurance has built a reputation for underwriting expertise and service excellence and this is a further opportunity to strengthen our product offering in the Irish market.”

Aon will be working exclusively with XL Insurance to offer quotations across the spectrum of a firm's profile and cover requirements, ranging from a small sole practitioner or a larger multi-partner firm.

Solicitors can access the exclusive scheme at www.solicitors.aon.ie 

Ends
For more information contact:
Alexandra Lewis, Aon
020 7882 0541
Alexandra.lewis@aon.co.uk
http://aon.mediaroom.com
MacDonagh Boland Crotty MacRedmond Ltd. t/a Aon MacDonagh Boland is regulated by the Financial Regulator.

Sebastian Kadritzke, XL Insurance
+44 (0)20 7933 7927
sebastian.kadritzke@xlgroup.com

About Aon
Aon Corporation (NYSE: AOC) is the leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human capital consulting. Through its more than 37,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon readily delivers distinctive client value via innovative and effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Aon's industry-leading global resources and technical expertise are delivered locally through more than 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Named the world's best broker by Euromoney magazine's 2008 and 2009 Insurance Survey, Aon also ranked highest on Business Insurance's listing of the world's largest insurance brokers based on commercial retail, wholesale, reinsurance and personal lines brokerage revenues in 2008. A.M. Best deemed Aon the number one insurance broker based on brokerage revenues in 2007 and 2008, and Aon was voted best insurance intermediary, best reinsurance intermediary and best employee benefits consulting firm in 2007 and 2008 by the readers of Business Insurance. For more information on Aon, log onto http://www.aon.com/.

Sign up to receive Aon news alerts by email or RSS feed at: http://aon.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=58.

Safe Harbour Statement: http://aon.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=67

About XL Insurance
“XL Insurance" is the global brand used by member insurers of the XL Capital Ltd (NYSE: XL) group of companies. More information about XL Insurance and its products is available at www.xlinsurance.com. Through its operating subsidiaries, XL Capital is a leading provider of global insurance and reinsurance coverages and services to industrial, commercial and professional service firms, insurance companies, and other enterprises on a worldwide basis. More information about XL Capital Ltd is available at www.xlcapital.com.