Aon Corp.
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Aon Corporation (NYSE: AOC), based in Chicago, Illinois, at the Aon Center, second tallest building in Chicago, is a leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting, and specialty insurance underwriting. It was created in 1982, when the Ryan Insurance Group merged with Combined International Corporation. (Aon is the Gaelic term for "oneness".) Combined International Corporation was founded by W. Clement Stone in 1919, and Ryan Insurance Group was founded by Patrick Ryan in the 1960s.
The company employs approximately 47,000 professionals in its 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Backed by broad resources, industry knowledge and technical expertise, Aon professionals help a wide range of clients develop effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Aon is the world's largest reinsurance broker, largest captive insurance company manager, largest pure insurance brokerage company; and third largest employee benefits consultant.
They also provide warranty extension services. In Argentina, Aon keeps a network of independent repair shops, while the insurance is issued by Virginia Surety (part of Aon), HSBC La Buenos Aires, or others.
Its New York offices were on floors 92 and 98-105 of the south tower of the World Trade Center at the time of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. As a result, Aon lost more than 170 employees. See the Memorial wiki tribute to Aon for a complete list of people.
The company logo is featured for a brief moment in the motion picture "The Matrix".
Spitzer Investigation
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and other state attorneys general investigated Aon and several other commercial insurance brokers' business practices in 2004 and 2005. In the spring of 2005, without acknowledging any wrongdoing, Aon agreed to a $190 million settlement payable over 30 months. Aon has described the settlement as contributing significantly to a series of reforms designed to improve the commercial insurance broking industry.
In August 2006 Aon in the UK overtook rivals Marsh to become the biggest insurance broker (by revenue) in the country.
