Willis

London, UK, September 08, 2009 – Willis Re, the reinsurance broking arm of Willis Group Holdings (NYSE: WSH), the global insurance broker, won the 2009 Analyst / Research category at The Review Worldwide Reinsurance Awards held at the Dorchester Hotel in London last week.

The award recognised the work of the Willis Research Network (WRN), the world's largest collaboration between the scientific and insurance communities. The WRN sponsors research posts at more than 20 leading universities, including Princeton, Kyoto, Cambridge and Bologna, to further research into natural perils, climate change, the vulnerability of the built environment and related systems, extreme statistics, financial risk, law and liability, management and economics.

The award cited the WRN for “the most consistent objective analytical work applied to the re/insurance industry.” The judging criteria include the highest quality analytical research of a company or market sector, and the best contribution to the intellectual base of the industry. The judges were particularly impressed by the WRN's ethos of open and collaborative research, which encourages publication of all its core research in both academic and industry arenas.

Commenting on the award, Rowan Douglas, Managing Director of Analytics for Willis Re and Chairman of the Willis Research Network, said, “What sets the WRN apart is the integration of leading scientists with the business community to develop practical and useful outputs. This is great public recognition for our academic members, clients and market partners, as well as for Willis Re colleagues worldwide. Our thanks to all of them for making the first three years of the WRN such a success. This award is further incentive for us to make even greater progress in the years ahead.”

The Willis Research Network (WRN), funded by Willis Group Holdings, is the world's largest partnership between academia and the insurance industry. Willis has teamed up with more than 20 leading institutions across a full range of research disciplines, from atmospheric science and climate statistics, to geography, hydrology and seismology, to evaluate the impacts on the environment via engineering, exposure analysis and Geographic Information Systems. Additional information can be found at www.willisresearchnetwork.com

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.