Chicago-based insurance broker Aon said a sizable number of clients have accepted its settlement offering of compensation over claims the firm improperly steered them to insurers who made undisclosed fee arrangements.
Al Orendorff, director of public relations for Aon, said that 74 percent of the $190 million, or about $140 million, is expected to be paid out to clients on the terms of the agreement reached earlier this year with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
Mr. Orendorff said the firm is still calculating the actual number of clients who have accepted the agreement. No firm figure of the actual number of clients is available because some clients received more than one settlement notice based on their insurance placements.
He said of Aon's top 1,000 clients, more than 90 percent have accepted the agreement.
Eligible policyholders had until Oct. 30 to opt into the fund.
The settlement, reached in March with Mr. Spitzer, created a restitution fund for clients. Payments will be made over a three-year period. The broker also agreed to a number of internal reforms that included an agreement to no longer accept contingent commissions.
The settlement stemmed from Mr. Spitzer's investigation of the industry over the steering of contracts to companies in return for profitable volume-based contingent commissions.
Aon admitted no guilt or wrongdoing in the settlement agreement that ended Mr. Spitzer's investigation into the firm. However, Patrick Ryan, the company's founder and then chief executive officer, did issue an apology for any company misconduct.
The agreement also ended probes in Connecticut and Illinois.
Of the agreement, Mr. Orendorff said, "It is our position that the individuals who have accepted the offer of settlement waive their right to pursue further compensation from Aon."
Mr. Orendorff said that whatever money is remaining from the $190 million restitution fund would be added to a $38 million class-action lawsuit settlement with Alan Daniel and the Williamson County Agricultural Association. The suit was filed claiming it was steered into contracts with companies that paid contingent commissions.
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