Aon International Space Brokers (ISB)
The Aon ISB team is dedicated to space risk management and insurance. It is part of Aon’s global Broking Centre and its industry experts are strategically located in Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Paris and Washington, to best serve clients. We work for some of the world’s largest space companies as well as smaller but equally important satellite operators.
Our expertise comprises of experience in insurance, legal, contractual, government regulation, International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), finance and engineering. This blend of disciplines provides distinct value to our client offering and our technical team is the best in the industry.
Examples of the types of clients utilising our services include: satellite operators, launch service providers, satellite manufactures, financial institutions and agencies, government agencies, law firms and telecommunication companies.
Protecting 36,000 km high assets
Insurance is often the third largest cost in a satellite launch programme. We take a global programme-wide approach, identifying and quantifying the full spectrum of risk: business, technical and functional. This enables our customers to develop innovative risk transfer and reduction strategies. Our end-to-end service process includes:
- Contract analysis and risk management review
- Risk allocation and mapping of retained exposures
- Business plan analysis of loss scenarios
- Assistance with technical presentations
- Manuscript policy wording and loss formulae
- Market negotiations and placement
- Claims management.
Insurance placement
As dedicated space specialists working on insurance placements all day, every day, we generate unrivalled client value because we know the market better than anyone else and understand the space underwriters’ different risk appetites.
We understand the concerns and needs of our customers and their financial backers. We create client value through innovation. We make sure our customers are ready well in advance of launch, through:
- Developing and agreeing an initial schedule of milestone activities
- Providing key events timelines that synchronise insurance activities with programme schedules
- Offering risk mitigation via programme reviews and contract risk analysis
- Insurance placing activities including market presentations and roadshows.
Engineering
Having the engineering skills to properly understand the technical aspects of a space project is a critical part of translating a customer’s requirements into effectively structured and competitively priced insurance protection.
We comprise both experienced satellite engineers, including expertise unaffected by ITAR regulations, as well as insurance experts. This enables us to offer clients unrivalled breadth and depth of experience in relation to managing and mitigating space risks. We offer a variety of services including:
- Development of loss criteria
- Detailed risk modeling and risk analysis
- Advice on past performance and market acceptance of different technologies
- Creation of technical presentations and review of in-orbit health reports
- Detailed technical negotiations with insurance satellite experts.
Our products/coverage
- Pre-launch: all risks property and transit
- Launch vehicle flight only
- Launch and in-orbit insurance
- In-orbit insurance
- Third party liability insurance
- Service interruption and loss of revenue
- Transponder asset insurance
- Space products liability
- Astronaut/cosmonaut personal accident
- Political risk
- Risk management consulting for banks, export credit agencies and others.
Claim services
Since Aon ISB was created we have collected over US$3 billion in satellite claims. Space claims range from the very simple catastrophic loss to the very complex loss of performance and possible degradation.
Our claims expertise includes:
- Assisting the customer in identifying what has happened, quantifying the potential loss and identifying any potential technical or insurance issues including salvage and subrogation
- Working with the customer to draft and file a proof of loss, and pressing insurers for its acceptance
- Negotiation of final settlement agreement, including any salvage agreement, with insurers
- Collection of claims funds from all insurers and remittance to the customer in a timely fashion.