Aon fined over bribery allegations
Thursday, 08 Jan 2009 11:40
Aon have been fined over bribery allegations
Insurance broker and consultants Aon has been fined a record £5.25 million for making suspected bribery payments.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said Aon Limited made various suspicious payments, totalling around $7 million, to overseas firms and individuals between January 2005 and September 2007.
Margaret Cole, director of enforcement, said: "This is the largest financial crime related fine imposed by the FSA to date.
"It sends a clear message to the UK financial services industry that it is completely unacceptable for firms to conduct business overseas without having in place appropriate anti-bribery and corruption systems and controls."
The FSA added that the fine was lowered from £7.5 million as Aon cooperated with the investigation and agreed to settle at an early stage.
The firm has also improved its controls and now has a model of best practice, the FSA added.
The failings were within the company's energy and aviation divisions, in overseas "high risk jurisdictions" said Aon.
Peter Harmer, chief executive of Aon, said: "We recognise and regret the failings that occurred in our systems and controls for payments to third parties and are pleased that our efforts to remedy and enhance our controls are considered by the FSA to be 'a model of best practice that other firms may wish to adopt'."