Aon Benfield will act as the lead broker working for the California Earthquake Authority (CEA), after the authority approved a team of brokers to place its reinsurance needs.
The CEA approved the team of Aon Benfield working along with Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, and Willis Re Inc.
The team was selected after a competitive bidding process, the CEA said.
CEA Chief Executive Officer Glenn Pomeroy said in a statement that he considers Aon Benfield, Guy Carpenter and Willis Re to be "the top three reinsurance intermediaries in the world."
The three firms will access reinsurance capacity, analyze global reinsurance markets, assess creditworthiness of potential reinsurers, determine and negotiate the lowest price for reinsurance cover, and generally assist the staff with its reinsurance needs.
The team is under a five-year contract to deliver annually reinsurance programs to supply much of CEA's claim-paying capacity, the broker said.
The CEA currently purchases more than $3 billion in catastrophe reinsurance.
The CEA, which began operating in 1996, provides earthquake insurance throughout California through private insurers. It has approximately 770,000 policies, representing 70 percent of residential earthquake policies in California.
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