In Practice July 21, 2010

Aon Explores Alternative Remuneration

Aon Corp. announced today that it will resume accepting various forms of compensation for its brokerage business where appropriate.
Reported by

According to a recent announcement, the Chicago-based broker will accept all compensation―including supplemental and contingent commissions―according to the geographic areas and market segments in which they are appropriate and legally permissible.   

Steve McGill, chairman and CEO of Aon Risk Solutions, declined to provide specifics about which geographical areas or market segments would be included in the compensation structure.  

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A five-year old ban that barred Aon from collecting profit- and volume-linked commissions was lifted earlier this year, and while no timeline has yet been announced, the report showed that the company is now working with insurers and clients to make this strategy possible.  

Further information about Aon is available at www.aon.com.  

 

The Markets July 21, 2010

Skittish Investors Reverse Fund Flow May Trends

Investors who were skittish over the European sovereign debt crisis and whether the global economy would slide back into recession reversed course in May. 

Reported by

The latest fund flow data from Strategic Insight (SI), an Asset International company, said that in the process the nervous investors at least temporarily unraveled positive fund flows seen in the U.S. and Europe since April 2009. 

SI said U.S. long-term funds saw net redemptions of $5 billion in May at the same time as long-term funds in Asia were reaping $15 billion in net inflows.  Year to date, SI said the U.S. enjoyed $199 billion in net inflows.  

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According to the report, May flows by category were:    

  • U.S. Equity, -$18.9 billion; 
  • International/Global Equity, -$5.7 billion; 
  • Mixed Allocation, -$1.9 billion; 
  • Tax-Free Bond, $2.6 billion; and
  • Taxable Bond, $12 billion.

 

The top five mutual fund money managers in the U.S. in terms of assets in May were The Vanguard Group ($1.36 trillion), Fidelity Investments ($1.19 trillion), American Funds ($883 billion), BlackRock ($692 billion), and PIMCO/Allianz Global ($407 billion). SI said the top five had 44% of the U.S. market share, up from 42% a year earlier.  

More information is at http://www.sionline.com/.

 

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