Aon Re Global has been named the world's number one reinsurance broker according to ratings agency Best's Review.

Aon brought in $922 million in revenues for last year, while nearest competitor Guy Carpenter & Co. Inc. raised $880m over the same period.

In third and fourth places were Benfield Group Ltd. and Willis Re, who raked in $696.07m and $597.7m respectively, with a gap of more than $400m to Towers Perrin, who took $165m, in sixth place.

Aon, which is headed by chairman and chief executive officer Michael O'Halleran and is headquartered in Chicago, but has a base in Bermuda, developed a structured organisation into four regions with networks of local experts, while continuing to invest in expanding analytics, modeling and consultative services globally.

Aon Capital Markets raised more than $2 billion of capital for its clients, as well as being rated as the largest reinsurance intermediary and Best Reinsurance Broker by several industry readers' choice polls.

The company, which specialises in treaty and facultative, property and casualty, accident and health reinsurance, is planning to broaden its regional facultative reinsurance brokerage capabilities through the newly-formed Aon Re Global Fac, focusing on reinsurance placement of casualty, construction, terrorism, power and on and off-shore energy, operating in more than 30 offices globally and working with clients ranging from global cedents to captive insurers.

Guy Carpenter, which works in the property catastrophe, general property, general liability and specialty markets, increased their revenues by five percent, driven by a double-digit growth in new business and this year will focus on client retention in a market of declining casualty reinsurance rates and increased risk retention by clients.

Benfield, led by group CEO Grahame Chilton and specialists in property and casualty, meanwhile created and established Starbound Re, a special purpose reinsurance vehicle that raised $400m of new US property catastrophe capacity, as well as forming a joint venture with Merrill Lynch to offer catastrophe bonds.

The rest of the top 10 is made up of the BMS Group ($107.75m revenue), JLT Reinsurance Brokers Ltd. ($86.4m), Gallagher Re and Collins ($59m).