Aon says its 2013 fourth-quarter net income attributable toshareholders was $355 million, compared to $305 million for 2012'sfourth quarter.

Total revenue increased 3% to $3.2 billion in the quarter, saysAon, primarily driven by a 4% increase in organic revenue.

In a conference call, President and CEO Greg Case said the 4%organic growth was “highlighted by strong growth in our HRoutsourcing and Americas retail-brokerage businesses.”

Revenue for Aon's HR solutions grew 8% to $1.2 billion, drivenby 8% organic growth in commissions and fees, the firm says.

Risk-solutions revenue was up slightly to $2.053 billion from$2.05 billion in 2012's fourth quarter. Retail Brokerage organicrevenue increased 3%, says Aon, “reflecting revenue growth in boththe Americas and International businesses.”

For the year, net income attributable to shareholders was $1.1billion, up from $993 million in 2012. Revenues increased to $11.8billion compared to $11.5 billion the year before.

During the call, Case said he has seen “continued strong growthon the emerging markets side,” adding, “And so we're seeing verystrong growth across Asia, across Latin America, with particularlyvery high growth and well into the double digits in a number ofcountries.” Even with the impact of the economicslowdown in these areas, Case said it's still a “very positive areaof investment and development for us,” adding that “if it's greatand it's a little less great, it's still in the greatcategory.”

Case also spoke to challenges in the reinsurance market, notingthat there are “some substantial headwinds when you think aboutsome of the capital.” But he said Aon believes it is on track togrow its risk-solutions business, including the reinsurancebusiness. He stressed the mix in services Aon provides to clientsin this space, including through its investments in data andanalytics. He said that “it's really just adding advice and some ofthe things that come with data and analytics to help [clients]think about their business overall, that's an increasingcomponent.”

He also said Aon has been in a “leadership position” withrespect to alternative capital in the area of cat bonds. He saidthat “since 2010 there have been, give or take, about 90, 93,94 deals done over that period of time. We've been involved in overhalf of them.”