BENFIELD JOBS UNDER THREAT AFTER AON TAKEOVER

Global broking group Aon Corp is to cut between 500 and 700 jobs at the newly created Aon Benfield as a result of its purchase of UK-based insurance and reinsurance broker Benfield, Aon said on Friday. Aon reported that it would record about $185m in costs over the next three years because of job losses, asset impairments and lease consolidations. The broker has said that it will save between $33m and $41m next year, between $84m and $94m in 2010 and about $122m in 2011 as a result of combining most of its reinsurance broking operations with those of Benfield. Most of the job losses will not be client-facing, Aon said. Benfield employed about 2,000 staff before the takeover. Aon completed its $1.43bn acquisition of UK broker Benfield Group on Friday, costing it some $320m less than initially anticipated owing to the appreciation of the US dollar. Aon Benfield is officially launched today with about 4,000 staff. Ex- Benfield boss Grahame Chilton, now vice-chairman of Aon Corp, is leading “a multi-year effort to improve growth across all areas of Aon”, working directly with Aon chief executive Greg Case. Aon also said that it expected to book about $44m in fourth-quarter costs as a result of a currency hedging programme. Meanwhile, Aon Italia and Italian bank UniCredit have launched an insurance broking partnership, under which Aon Italia will become the broker for the Italian banking group worldwide. Aon Italia will also take control of UniCredit Broker’s corporate bancassurance portfolio.