World's leading retail broker also voted as best by BI readers

1166 Ave. of the Americas
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www.marsh.com

Unparalleled expertise and strong client relationships are what helped Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc to not only emerge from its recent troubles intact, but also to preserve its standing as the world's leading insurance broker, its senior executives say.

MMC was voted the best retail insurance broker in the Business Insurance 2005 Readers Choice Awards.

Even as the brokerage grappled with extensive management changes and an overhaul of its compensation practices amid industry probes—as well as with an $850 million settlement to end one investigation—MMC's Marsh Inc. unit continued to grow its business. In 2004, MMC recorded total brokerage revenues of $10.37 billion, an 8.3% jump over the prior-year period, while revenues from risk and insurance services rose 7.6% to $7.39 billion.

"It's almost remarkable when you think about what the headlines looked like a year ago, and what people were predicting as the dire outcome for this organization, and then you look at our retention rates and our rate of business and the financial well-being of this organization today," said Brian M. Storms, Marsh's new chairman and chief executive officer. Mr. Storms, who formerly headed MMC's Mercer Human Resource Consulting unit, was tapped last month to lead the brokerage, succeeding Michael G. Cherkasky, who remains president and CEO of MMC.

Mr. Storms attributes much of Marsh's success to the talent of its 58,500 employees.

"I don't think anybody in the world has anywhere near the expertise that we have," he said. Being the world's largest broker has enabled the company to "retain and attract the very, very best people in the industry," he said. "I think that's one of the qualities that really distinguishes us from our competitors."

Marsh's vast global footprint also gives it an edge in the marketplace, said President William A. Malloy. New York-based Marsh provides insurance brokerage, risk management and risk consulting services to clients in more than 100 countries, including midsize firms and large, multinationals.

Customers also benefit from a deeper, more comprehensive level of service at Marsh, Mr. Storms said, due to the capabilities and resources provided by MMC's other companies, including security consultant Kroll Inc., Mercer HR Consulting and reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter & Co. Inc. "It's very hard for companies to come into the market and match that," he said.

Going forward, Marsh is optimistic about keeping and building business, its top executives say, and it is committed to restoring client trust through transparency. As the industry adopts new transparency requirements, "we intend to continue to take a leadership position and look for ways in 2006 to make that a big differentiation" between Marsh and its peers, Mr. Storms said.

"Marsh had a challenging year," and "it would be foolish to think that competitors and other firms out there aren't trying to take advantage of what they thought was a weakened company," Mr. Storms said. But "we're going to defend our business rigorously, as well as our client relationships."