Aon/Albert G. Ruben Insures 2003 Best Picture Nominees 40 Year Association with Oscar.

Business Editors

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 11, 2003

This year's Oscar-nominated films owe their respective productions in part to a longstanding partner: Aon Corporation.

For more than forty years, Aon/Albert G. Ruben has been the world's largest insurance brokerage firm specializing in the placement of entertainment insurance. Ruben protects motion picture productions against everything from injury to essential cast members (including animals) to weather delays. Besides insuring most of the major Hollywood studios for their film and television production activities, Aon/Albert G. Ruben insures more than 70% of all prime-time television series and global independent films. The company insured 74 of the 100 top grossing films of 2002, including "Spider-Man," "Die Another Day," and "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones."

Albert G. Ruben has a long history with the Academy Awards, as over the years many of the films the company has insured have gone on to win Best Picture Oscars, including, "Ben-Hur," "West Side Story," "Patton" and "Schindler's List." Among this year's Best Picture nominees, Ruben insured four of the five: "Chicago," "Gangs of New York," "The Hours" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers."

"Albert G. Ruben's history parallels that of Hollywood," says Brian Kingman, senior vice president of Aon/Albert G. Ruben. "We're honored to be so associated with the Academy Award winning films - films that traditionally represent the best Hollywood has to offer."

Kingman says each of this year's Best Picture nominees has its own story. As a production, the trilogy of `The Lord of the Rings' was the first of its kind, according to Aon/Albert G. Ruben Account Manager Susan Weiss. Producer New Line Cinema knew that they were going to be producing three films, but perceived that they were telling one story with one cast, so they elected to film the three stories simultaneously. As a result, Ruben had to insure the three features as one. "Most movies take approximately two months to film," she says, "principal photography on these three movies took 14 months. The production set construction began well over a year before shooting the first frame. `Lord of the Rings' was such a giant endeavor that we needed a separate cast log just for the 9 `hero' horses.

"We began insuring this project in August of 1998 and the insurance will continue to run through December of 2003 -- so when all three movies are finished, we will have been involved with this project for about 5 years."

For "Chicago," Aon/Albert G. Ruben Toronto Operations Manager Keri Winters says the biggest concern was also the most obvious: the dancing. "It's not common to have three `A' list actors dancing for months of rehearsal and then months of principal photography," Winters says. Brokers in Albert G. Ruben's Toronto office had to watch hours of rehearsal videotape to convince the coverage underwriters that the dancers had taken every precaution against production-delaying injury.

The producers of "Chicago" also reached back into the Hollywood archives for some special authenticity. Winters says Best Supporting Actress nominee Catherine Zeta-Jones wore 1930s Hollywood megastar Mae West's original jewelry during filming. It was insured for more than $600,000.

Aon Corporation (http://www.aon.com) is a holding company that is comprised of a family of insurance brokerage, consulting and insurance underwriting subsidiaries.

This press release may contain certain statements relating to future results, which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from either historical or anticipated results, depending on a variety of factors. Potential factors that could impact results include the general economic conditions in different countries around the world, fluctuations in global equity and fixed income markets, rating agency actions, the cost and availability of financing, the completion, cost and timing of the capital enhancement plan, changes in commercial property and casualty premium rates, the competitive environment, the actual cost of resolution of contingent liabilities and other loss contingencies, the ultimate impact of the business transformation plan, and the timing and resolution of related insurance and reinsurance issues relating to the events of September 11, 2001. Further information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's financial results, are contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.