Sabrina Gordon, Business Reporter

Montego Bay-based Billy Craig Insurance Brokers (BCIB) has landed its second deal in months to do business in Jamaica as correspondent broker for Aon Corpo-ration, an insurance and risk consulting firm based in the United States.

The deal was sealed October 21.

A month before, BCIB became the principal representative in Jamaica for the Cayman Islands-based insurance outfit, Island Heritage.

Aon Corporation is a global provider of risk-management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage and human capital and management consulting firm with headquarters in Chicago.

"Our responsibility will be to handle the client relationship within Jamaica," said BCIB Chief Executive Officer William Craig.

"We are responsible for advising the client. We will be responsible for placing all of the client's local business and ensuring that all claims are settled properly."

Aon has been trumpeting its international reach, with Jamaica now among the more than 120 countries in which it is said to operate.

"With an employee base of 36,000 people working in 500 offices in more than 120 countries, we can anticipate how changes in one sector impact another," Aon Corporation's website says.

At third quarter, Aon brought in a total of US$1.8 billion in revenue with net income attributable to stockholders of US$120 million.

Craig would not be drawn on the value of the deal with Aon nor the earlier arrangement with Island Heritage.

"This partnership with Aon is a significant boost to Billy Craig and its clients and we look forward to offering our new clients theopportunity to partake in Aon's expertise," he said.

The partnership, he added, would open his company to new markets and access to Aon's worldwide resources, including its risk-modelling capability and various speciality insurance teams.

"It is an agreement where we assist them by looking after their corporate clients locally and they would assist us by looking after our clients that operate outside of Jamaica."

BCIB, established since 1963, does 70 per cent of its business through corporate offices, with annual premium income topping $1.2 billion.

In September, Craig was projecting business growth this year in the region of 25 per cent, primarily from new products.

BCIB is one of 30 insurance brokers operating in the Jamaican market, employing 43 persons across its three offices located in Kingston and Montego Bay.

Craig remains cagey about disclosing the size of his company's client base, but the 46-year-old insurance brokerage operates predominantly in the general-insurance market and pitches largely to corporate clients.

The firm has assets in excess of $400 million and a capital base of more than $80 million.

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com