Willis Launches Unified Global Facultative Unit

Willis Group Holdings, the global insurance broker, today announced the creation of Willis Facultative, a new unit that combines the individual facultative units of Willis and Willis Re and consolidates the group’s specialist Facultative Advocates around the world into a single global business.

Source: Source: Willis Group Holdings | Published on March 16, 2009

The newly formed unit will have responsibility for the development of facultative business globally within the Willis Group. It will also provide a clear entry point for facultative solutions to insurance company clients worldwide.

Willis Facultative will be led by Matthew Keeping as Chief Executive Officer. Reporting to Keeping will be Gianmarco Tosti, who has been appointed Managing Director of Willis Facultative International, and will be responsible for the development and management of all facultative business outside of the U.S. Rich Macrane, Managing Director of Willis Facultative North America will be responsible for the development and management of facultative business in North America.

Commenting on the establishment of the new division, Keeping said, "For the last five years, we have been growing our facultative business consistently through a number of underlying business units, using a decentralized strategy. By centralizing our core teams, we have an opportunity to bring together a range of specialist products under one management structure for the benefit of Willis cedent customers in every corner of the world in a consolidating marketplace where there are now only three global facultative intermediaries."

Tosti said, "I’m delighted to be a part of this initiative and confident that Willis Facultative will prove to be the facultative broker of choice for insurance companies around the globe. Our specialist knowledge and presence in key markets globally will create distinctive value for our clients. The current market uncertainty, as well as new regulatory requirements, such as Solvency II for EU countries, will drive our clients to be more demanding in the future. Willis Facultative will have the resources and expertise to meet all of their needs.”

Macrane commented, “Our North American customers will benefit tremendously by having seamless access to International markets and expertise. This further enhances our ‘One Flag’ approach and will aid our clients in achieving their business goals in this dynamic marketplace.”

About Willis Group

Willis Group Holdings Limited is a leading global insurance broker, developing and delivering professional insurance, reinsurance, risk management, financial and human resource consulting and actuarial services to corporations, public entities and institutions around the world. Willis has more than 400 offices in nearly 120 countries, with a global team of approximately 20,000 Associates serving clients in some 190 countries. Additional information on Willis may be found at www.willis.com