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Managing Director
Aon
New York

Financial institutions have been hit hard by losses on subprime loans and the problems are not over yet. Senior executives have lost their jobs over the crisis and the share prices of many financial institutions have declined sharply.

Securing professional liability coverage in this environment has been no easy task. Underwriters are understandably skittish about providing either D&O or E&O coverage with so many problems in the headlines day after day.

Brian Wanat won praise from risk managers for his ability to help their financial institutions line up coverage in spite of all the strikes they had going against them this year.

"Brian is great. He knows the policies. On the policies that matter to me, E&O and D&O, he did a great job," a risk manager at one major financial institution said.

Another risk manager noted that it took a lot of negotiating skill to place D&O coverage for financial institutions this year because of the headlines about the subprime debacle. "The subprime issue was all over the papers and if you're a financial institution ... they (underwriters) say they underwrite, but they profile," this risk manager said.

Wanat deserves a lot of credit, he says, for his work in helping financial institution's get liability coverage during this difficult year.

Wanat has 18 years of financial institutions underwriting and brokerage experience. He has been with Aon for six years and before that was with CNA for nine years and AIG for three years.

Managing Director
Marsh
New York

As the head of the Terrorism Risk Specialty Practice at Marsh, Jill Dalton has spent much of the last year focusing on the extension of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.

Dalton worked with the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers and members of Congress to advocate for the extension of TRIA and a continued role for the federal government to protect clients, especially financial institutions and real estate firms, from the risks of terrorism. In December, Congress extended the law until 2014.

Dalton also testified at a June Congressional hearing of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government-Sponsored Enterprises.

"She does a fantastic job of collecting information from Washington and distilling it down into fairly understandable snippets and summaries in terms of where we are and what do we have to worry about," says one risk manager.

The Terrorism Risk Specialty Practice, meanwhile, publishes data on terrorism take-up rates and costs and sorts this data by industry group, size and location of risk. This information is useful for banks, brokerages and real estate firms as they have the highest terrorism risk insurance take-up rates in the industry.

She is also the property practice leader for financial institutions and in that role this year has been working to create a Center of Excellence for serving financial institutions clients.

Managing Director
D&O Liability National Practice Leader
Aon
New York

Global D&O exposures are a significant and growing concern for companies across a number of industries, especially those that are the most global, face the greatest degree of regulation and those that are subject to the greatest reputational risk.

Financial institutions are among the most vulnerable when it comes to these exposures. These international exposures have historically been overlooked because D&O was usually considered more of a U.S. problem, but Jennifer Fahey has been working over the last year to bring these issues to the attention of her clients.

She has been working to improve clients' understanding of these exposures, of the applicable law and regulations, and of the available solutions relative to global insurance coverage in the financial products arena.

Through contribution to many publications and speaking at individual client meetings as well as at conferences, she has taken a leading role in educating clients on these risks, helping to ensure they are not caught flat-footed relative to concerns of subsidiary directors and officers or counsel.

Fahey was instrumental, for instance, in a huge D&O revamp at one major financial institution. "In my mind, she is one of the very best and talented brokers for professional liability," the company's risk manager said. "She did a super job."

Integro Insurance Brokers
Principal
New York

Jenny Gallagher has earned a reputation for being able to help acquiring firms identify and manage risks related to potential acquisitions. Private equity firms and other acquirers have not only their own risks to manage, but the risks of the companies they invest in as well.

No matter what type of deal a buyer has in the works, Gallagher has been able to bring value to the table, in some cases making the target company an even more attractive investment than it was before. "She's the go-to person on all the deals," says one of her clients, a principal at a private equity firm.

"Jenny is very focused on our M&A work," says another client. "She's become part of our strategic planning process within our M&A work," he says. "She's worked under extremely difficult time frames and has delivered excellent results."

Some of her clients have been so impressed with her work that they have sought her out after moving on to new positions at different firms. Gallagher, who is 33, has been at Integro for two years, where she is the private equity practice due diligence manager. Before joining Integro, she was with Marsh for 10 years.

She is currently working on her CPCU designation and upon completion plans to work toward a Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

She has an MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and a bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics from Dartmouth College.

Executive Vice President
Financial Institutions Industry Leader
Willis
New York

John Bayeux has put his deep knowledge of the financial institutions industry to work over the last year, focusing on critical issues like network liability and identity theft, the subprime credit crisis, and a myriad of specialized exposures faced by the hedge fund industry. In response to the subprime credit crisis, Bayeux and his team formed a subprime mortgage crisis task force charged with keeping clients and associates informed of financial market and legislative developments via a series of alerts and updates.

For the hedge fund industry, Bayeux and his team are finalizing a multiline program to address three major risks--professional liability, workers' compensation and key man life.

Bayeux and his team also recognized that financial institutions have far different network liability and identity theft exposures than other industries. Earlier this year, Willis introduced a financial institutions-specific policy form to address those exposures that has been gaining widespread acceptance.

"John's strength is industry knowledge and expertise," said one risk manager. In addition to his "day job" as the FI industry leader, Bayeux is also now charged with the responsibility of leading six other industries areas and for ensuring that targeted industries are receiving industry-specific technical knowledge via the firm's industry leaders and assembled specialty resources.

"He's an excellent problem solver with a broad background," said one client. "He's not afraid to say 'I don't know,' " he said.

Managing Director
Financial Institutions Practice Leader
Aon
New York

Michael O'Connell never stops looking for new and innovative ways to tackle risk management problems confronting the financial institutions sectors. O'Connell, for instance, is heavily involved in positioning Aon's enterprise risk management and operational risk modeling tools and analytical capabilities to provide enhanced risk solutions to financial institutions.

He and his team also have been working on an innovative directors' and officers' policy for financial institutions.

Following the collapse in the subprime mortgage market, he also helped lead several aspects of one of the most visible and challenging D&O programs structured for a mortgage company. During the past year, O'Connell also has been instrumental in helping bring more business and new business to Aon and risk managers cited his ability to negotiate as one of the broker's major assets.

"Mike's strength is to bring insurers to the table and negotiate," a risk manager says.

O'Connell has 22 years of experience working with financial institutions' management and professional liability needs and corresponding solutions.

Before joining Aon in 2004, O'Connell was with Marsh and before that with AIG. His underwriting experience with AIG gives him a deep understanding of policy language and related claims exposures, which is critical in structuring management and professional liability programs.