Willis settles contingent commission probe for $50m.

Insurance broker Willis Group Holdings Ltd. will pay $50 million and change the way it conducts business in order to resolve allegations of fraud and anti-competitive practices Anti-competitive practices are business or government practices that prevent and/or reduce competition in a market (see restraint of trade).

Anti-competitive practices can include:

made by New York state Attorney General The New York State Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the State of New York. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government of New York. Eliot Spitzer Eliot Laurence Spitzer (born June 10 1959 ) is an American lawyer, politician and the current Governor of New York. Spitzer was elected governor in the November 2006 election. and acting state Insurance Superintendent Howard Mills. Willis also will pay an additional $1 million to settle similar allegations in a separate agreement with Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch Mike Hatch (born November 12, 1948) is an American politician, and was attorney general of Minnesota from 1999 - 2007. In 2006, he was the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nominee for governor. .

As in the Minnesota settlement, Willis agreed with New York New York, state, United States
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of officials to adopt a number of business reforms, including providing additional disclosures to clients about the services they are receiving and being more transparent in transactions, according to a statement from Spitzer's office. To avoid conflicts of interest,Willis will accept a single payment only for an insurance contract at the time of placement and will fully disclose that payment to the client.

As Hatch also did, Spitzer praised Willis' chairman and chief executive officer, Joseph Plumeri, for demonstrating "admirable leadership in spearheading Willis' response to the issues raised in our investigation and in implementing reforms at the company."

COPYRIGHT 2005 A.M. Best Company, Inc.
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.

Reader Opinion

Article Details
Printer friendly Cite/link Email Feedback
Title Annotation:	Companies
Comment:	Willis settles contingent commission probe for $50m.(Companies)
Publication:	Best's Review
Article Type:	Brief Article
Geographic Code:	4EUUK
Date:	May 1, 2005
Words:	174
Previous Article:	Water, water everywhere: in the past two decades, the underwriting of flood insurance has become more complicated.(Underwriting Insight)
Next Article:	Investor group to buy Universal Underwriters.(Companies)(Brief Article)
Topics:	Fraud Cases Insurance industry Management

Related Articles
L.A. office cited in N.Y. probe of Marsh activities.(Up Front )(Los Angeles)(New York)
Spitzer probes insurer/broker relationship.(Regulatory/Law)
Rewriting the rules: insurers and brokers are forced to adopt new policies about commissions, disclosures and even the size of their organizations....
Restoring trust: relentless investigations and painful revelations have led insurers, brokers and risk managers to probe long-standing business...
Willis' Plumeri leaves them standing.(CONTINGENT COMMISSIONS)(Brief Article)
Marsh settlement yields pros and cons.(CONTINGENT COMMISSIONS)(Brief Article)
Fallout from bid-rigging case causes many marsh defections.(Willis Group Holdings Ltd., Marsh Inc. and Aon Corp.)
Can Cherkasky save Marsh? The financial giant's board picked a squeaky clean outsider to lead it back from the brink. But even the new CEO agrees...
Probe ends.(THE LABJ: Online Journal)(Marsh and McLennan Companies Inc.)(Brief article)
A house divided: while the four biggest insurance brokers--and several top insurance carriers--shun contingent commissions, many smaller players in...