Best Reinsurance Broker for Expertise and Market Knowledge (revenues of more than $1bn) winner: Aon Benfield

A division of Aon, Aon Benfield is a reinsurance intermediary and full-service capital advisor.

With more than 80 offices in 50 countries, Aon’s worldwide client base has access to a broad portfolio of integrated capital solutions and services.

The broker received an abundance of positive feedback throughout the survey. A number of respondents commended the broker on its global expertise and strong presence in the market, with one respondent adding that the broker’s size and reach was “unparalleled”.

Another added that Aon Benfield was “always keeping on top of its game” and noted the development of a hazard research centre. It was also praised for understanding the current trends of the market with its market intelligent being rated as “second to none”.

Many respondents spoke from personal experiences of working with the broker. “They have a good grasp of the market for the products we purchase,” said one respondent, while another added the broker has many historical ties and is very close to its clients.

Aon Benfield was also highly praised on its provision of “excellent analytics and market studies” and a “broad range of risk management solutions”.

The broker’s team was commended a number of times for its expertise and investigative skills. One respondent called the team “thought leaders”. In particular, Steve Clark, the client manager at Aon Risk Solutions, was praised for having a good depth of reinsurance technical knowledge.

Guy Carpenter secured second place with a score of 7.40 out of 10. It was commended on its broad scope and worldwide network.

The broker’s teams were frequently applauded for their client focus and solid knowledge of the market with one respondent noting that Guy Carpenter was developing its consulting and analytics team.

Another respondent said “they are very good at knowing what terms the market will support”, while another added that Guy Carpenter “seems to have an ability to bend the market to their way of thinking”.

The broker was commended for its work in microinsurance and climate change along with developing comprehensive reports.

Willis Re secured third place with a score of 7.23 out of 10. The broker’s depth of knowledge, geographic spread and experience were praised numerous times.

The staff at Willis Re were applauded on their proactivity and professionalism combined with a client-focused approach. The firm was commended on the interconnected nature of the international offices and the efficient use of expertise.

One respondent said Willis Re offered “creative reinsurance programmes with depth of knowledge to assist in choosing a programme”. The broker was also commended by one respondent on its “thoughtful and penetrating advice”, while another added that Willis Re offers the “best publications on market depth/size”.

The companies in the shortlists seen here were selected based on the first stage of the research, conducted via phone interviews and open online polls. Respondents were asked to name three companies they regard highly in this category. They were then asked to give details of why they had chosen these firms.

The shortlist for this category reflects the companies mentioned the most frequently.

The researchers then approached the market a second time and, using this shortlist presented in a random order, asked respondents to score each company out of ten based on how they perceive the firm based on the criteria of this category. It is the results of this part of the survey that are shown here.

More than 500 respondents took part in each part of the survey respectively.

The score shows the average score out of ten that each company received in stage two of the survey.

The shortlist was presented to respondents in a random order.