Willis Group Swings To Profit

"By exemplifying a sales culture, maintaining our steadfast expense discipline and delivering world-class client service, we continue to deliver solid revenue growth while enhancing operating margins and earnings," said Joe Plumeri, chairman and chief executive officer at Willis Group.

Commenting on the firm's emphasis on its sales culture and the recruiting effort, Mr. Plumeri said during today's conference call, "Our sales culture is taking hold. Our recruiting effort is taking hold. We are recruiting a great deal of people all over the world–but not just anybody. We are recruiting people who want to become part of our company, who want to become excited about our company and become shareholders of our company."

Mr. Plumeri said, generally speaking, rates are not growing as they did a year or a year-and-a-half ago. "Those were unusual spikes. Rates are now moderated, but we would categorize it as being on the hard side. We still believe it's a great time to be a broker."

Mr. Plumeri also said that non-U.S. insurers still have some catching up to do. "From our global vantage, some markets have lagged the United States in rate increases and have further to go to reach appropriate rate levels," he observed. "Many clients continue to see rate increases, especially for casualty lines."