Aon Identifies Unconventional Threats to U.S. Corporate Balance Sheets.

Business Editors

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 24, 2003

Aon Corporation (NYSE:AOC) today released its "Report Card for the World," identifying "unconventional threats" to the balance sheets of U.S. firms conducting business abroad. Aon Trade Credit, which annually maps business risks around the world, found several threats U.S. companies may be underestimating, including:

-- Risks from war on the Korean Peninsula, a well-understood

threat, but one which may cause greater-than-expected

disruption due to South Korea's status as a crucial supplier

of high-tech components including computer memory chips

-- Risks from hostilities between India and Pakistan - although

India is a small market for U.S. companies, the country is

becoming increasingly crucial as an "offshoring" center for

back-office functions (e.g. call centers) of U.S. firms

Bryan Squibb, managing director of Aon Trade Credit, said that such threats have gained importance following the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2003. "Sarbanes-Oxley has been called the most significant accounting legislation since the Securities Exchange Act of 1934," said Squibb. "One implication of this new law is that companies are responsible for having processes in place to manage and disclose threats to their balance sheets."

International political risk and trade credit exposures, Squibb noted, are one example of threats that are sometimes overlooked or assessed haphazardly. Such risks include war, civil war, terrorism, expropriation, inability to transfer currency across borders, and trade credit defaults by foreign or domestic customers. A 2001 study by Aon Trade Credit discovered that, in the Fortune 1000, only about 26 percent of companies had in place systematic and consistent methodologies to assess political risks.

"Although risks such as war and economic crisis are outside the scope of normal business dealings," said Squibb, "companies have a responsibility to understand these risks, and the risk management community is constantly developing new ways to deal with them."

Aon Corporation also announced the availability of "Offshoring Protection Insurance," which for the first time enables companies that engage in overseas business process outsourcing (BPO) to transfer risks from political developments. The coverage pays unanticipated extra expenses in the event that an "offshored" operation is disrupted due to war, embargo, government intervention, or terrorism, among other political events.

Established in 1912, Aon Trade Credit Global has pioneered the field of trade credit and political risk insurance and consultancy. With more than 400 professional staff around the world, ATC has the global reach to help clients navigate turbulent foreign markets.

Aon Corporation is a holding company that is comprised of a family of insurance brokerage, consulting, and insurance underwriting subsidiaries.

This press release contains 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, exchange rates, rating agency actions, pension funding, changes in commercial property and casualty markets and commercial premium rates, the competitive environment, the actual costs of resolution of contingent liabilities and other loss contingencies, the heightened level of potential errors and omissions liability arising from placements of complex policies and sophisticated reinsurance arrangements in an insurance market in which insurer reserves are under pressure, 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.