Certain Definitions

The following definitions apply throughout this Amendment No. 1 on Form 10-K/Aannual report unless the context requires otherwise:

The Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

Willis Towers Watson offers its clients a broad range of services to help them to identify and control their risks, and to enhance business performance by improving their ability to attract, retain and engage a talented workforce. Our risk control services range from strategic risk consulting (including providing actuarial analysis), to a variety of due diligence services, to the provision of practical on-site risk control services (such as health and safety or property loss control consulting), as well as analytical and advisory services (such as hazard modeling and reinsurance optimization studies). We assist clients in planning how to manage incidents or crises when they occur. These services include contingency planning, security audits and product tampering plans. We help our clients enhance their business performance by delivering consulting services, technology and solutions that help them anticipate, identify and capitalize on emerging opportunities in human capital management, as well as offer investment advice to help our clientsthem develop disciplined and efficient strategies to meet their investment goals.

As an insurance broker, we act as an intermediary between our clients and insurance carriers by advising our clients on their risk management requirements, helping them to determine the best means of managing risk and negotiating and placing insurance with insurance carriers through our global distribution network. We operate the largesta private Medicare exchange in the United States (‘U.S.’). Through this exchange and those for active employees, we help our clients move to a more sustainable economic model by capping and controlling the costs associated with healthcare benefits.

We are not an insurance company, and therefore we do not underwrite insurable risks for our own account.

We derive the majority of our revenue from either commissions or fees for brokerage or consulting services. We do not determine the insurance premiums on which our commissions are generally based. Commission levels generally follow the same trend as premium levels as they are derived from a percentage of the premiums paid by the insureds. Fluctuations in these premiums charged by the insurance carriers can therefore have a direct and potentially material impact on our results of operations. Our fees for consulting services are spread across a variety of complementary businesses that generally remain steady during times of uncertainty. We have some businesses, such as our health and benefits and administration businesses, which can be counter cyclical during the early period of a significant economic change.

Impact of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected our revenue and operating results during 2020, and we expect that it will continue to have an impact on our financial condition and results of operations in the near term and may have a substantial and negative impact on our financial condition, liquidity, and results of operations in future periods. For information regarding the impact of COVID-19 on our business and measures we have taken in response, see Item 7 ‘Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations-Risks and Uncertainties of the COVID-19 Pandemic’ and Item 1A ‘Risk Factors-Strategic, Operational and Technology Risks-We have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and may be substantially and negatively impacted by it in the future.’

Business Strategy

Willis Towers Watson is in the business of people, risk and capital. We believe that a unified approach to these areas can be a path to growth for our clients. Our integrated teams bring together our understanding of risk strategies and market analytics. This helps clients around the world to achieve their objectives.

We operate in attractive markets – both growing and mature – with a diversified platform across geographies, industries, segments and lines of business. We aim to be the premier advisory, broking and solutions company, creating a competitive advantage and delivering sustainable growth.

We believe we can achieve this by:

We care as much about how we work as we do about the impact that we make. This means commitment to shared values, a framework that guides how we run our business and serve clients.

Through these strategies we aim to accelerate revenue, cash flow, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (‘EBITDA’), and earnings growth, and to generate compelling returns for investors, by delivering tangible growth in revenue.

Principal Services

We manage our business across four integrated reportable operating segments: Human Capital and Benefits; Corporate Risk and Broking; Investment, Risk and Reinsurance; and Benefits Delivery and Administration. Below are the percentages of revenue generated by each segment for each of the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018.

Human Capital and Benefits

For a description of our Human Capital and Benefits (‘HCB’) segment, see the link above to the 2019 Form 10-K, and see ‘Human Capital and Benefits’ within Part I, Item 1 Business in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, filed with the SEC on February 26, 2020. There have been no material updates to the description of our HCB segment since the 2019 Form 10-K.   

Corporate Risk and Broking

The Willis Towers Watson Corporate Risk and Broking (‘CRB’) segment provides a broad range of risk advice, insurance brokerage and consulting services to clients worldwide ranging from small businesses to multinational corporations, and places more than $20 billion of premiums into the insurance markets on an annual basis. The segment delivers integrated global solutions tailored to client needs and underpinned by data and analytics through a balanced matrix of global lines of business across all of the Company’s regions. The global lines of business as of December 31, 2020 are:

Property and Casualty — Property and Casualty provides property and liability insurance brokerage services across a wide range of industries and segments including real estate, healthcare and retail. We also arrange insurance products and services for our affinity client partners to offer to their customers, employees, or members alongside, or in addition to, their principal business offerings.

Aerospace — Aerospace provides specialist expertise to the aerospace and space industries. Our aerospace business provides insurance broking, risk management services, contractual and technical advisory expertise to aerospace clients worldwide, including the world’s leading airlines, aircraft manufacturers, air cargo handlers and other airport and general aviation companies. The specialist InSpace team is also prominent in providing insurance and risk management services to the space industry.

Construction — Our Construction business provides services that include insurance broking, claims, loss control and specialized risk advice for a wide range of construction projects and activities. Clients include contractors, project owners, public entities, project managers, consultants and financiers, among others.

Facultative — Facultative capabilities exist for each of CRB’s offerings to serve as a broker or intermediary for insurance companies seeking to arrange reinsurance solutions across various classes of risk for their clients, some of which may also be broking clients of Willis Towers Watson. The Facultative team also works closely with our treaty reinsurance business to structure reinsurance solutions that deliver capital and strategic benefits to insurance company clients.

Financial, Executive and Professional Risks (‘FINEX’) — FINEX encompasses all financial and executive risks, delivering client solutions that range from management and professional liability, employment practices liability, crime, cyber and M&A-related insurances to risk consulting and advisory services. Specialist teams provide risk consulting and risk transfer solutions to a broad spectrum of clients across a multitude of industries, as well as the financial and professional service sectors.

Financial Solutions — Financial Solutions provides insurance broking services and specialized risk advice related to credit, surety, terrorism and political risk to clients that range from corporate to professional services firms and financial institutions including, but not limited to, banks, export credit agencies, multilaterals/development finance institutions, private equity funds and special purpose vehicles.

Marine —Marineprovides specialist expertise to the maritime and logistics industries. Our Marine business provides insurance broking services related to hull and machinery, cargo, protection and indemnity, fine art and general marine liabilities, among others. Our Marine clients include, but are not limited to, ship owners and operators, shipbuilders, logistics operations, port authorities, traders, shippers, exhibitors and secure transport companies.

Natural Resources — Our Natural Resources practice encompasses the oil, gas and chemicals, mining and metals, power and utilities and renewable energy sectors. It provides sector-specific risk transfer solutions and insights, which include insurance broking, risk engineering, contractual reviews, wording analysis and claims management.

Investment, Risk and Reinsurance

For a description of our Investment, Risk and Reinsurance (‘IRR’) segment, see the link above to the 2019 Form 10-K, and see ‘Investment, Risk and Reinsurance’ within Part I, Item 1 Business in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, filed with the SEC on February 26, 2020. There have been no material updates to the description of our IRR segment since the 2019 Form 10-K other than the information provided below.

In September 2020, the Company sold its Max Matthiessen business, which was included within the IRR segment. See Note 3 — Acquisitions and Divestitures within Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information.

Benefits Delivery and Administration

For a description of our Benefits Delivery and Administration (‘BDA’) segment, see the link above to the 2019 Form 10-K, and see ‘Benefits Delivery and Administration’ within Part I, Item 1 Business in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, filed with the SEC on February 26, 2020. There have been no material updates to the description of our BDA segment since the 2019 Form 10-K.

Human Capital

Our success depends on our ability to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel. The number of employees by segment for the year ended December 31, 2020 is approximated below:

The number of employees by geography as of the year ended December 31, 2020 is approximated below:

At December 31, 2020, Willis Towers Watson’s global workforce was 53.8% female and 46.2% male, and global and senior leadership was 27.7% female. Our Board of Directors was 33.3% female, including the Compensation Committee Chairman.  Voluntary turnover (rolling 12-month attrition) was 11.3% in 2020 compared to 11.2% in 2019.

Inclusion and Diversity — We believe that a culture of inclusion and diversity (‘I&D’) is critical to our business. I&D has a direct impact on our ability to grow and excel.

Our enterprise-wide I&D priorities include the following:

A key underlying theme of these priorities is a sharpened focus on our female talent and a goal to increase gender balance in leadership levels across the company. This focus directly supports the statement Willis Towers Watson made when we joined the Paradigm for Parity® (‘P4P’) coalition in 2016. P4P is committed to reaching gender parity in leadership by 2030.

Our Operating Committee members have I&D objectives as part of their individual performance component, comprising 20% of their short-term incentive awards. In 2020, we continued to make progress increasing female representation in leadership roles to 27.7% (26.5% in 2019). Furthermore, female representation in our global workforce increased from 53.3% in 2019 to 53.8% in 2020.

Each year our leaders cascade I&D-focused objectives throughout the organization, and we continue to look for ways to ensure an objective and fair process that mitigates human biases in all of our talent programs and processes. Examples of our I&D activities include:

Total Rewards— Willis Towers Watson invests significant resources in our most important asset – our colleagues. Our aim is to provide colleagues with pay-for-performance, benefits that support good health and a balanced life, as well as the ability to plan for the future, and a range of opportunities for professional development and career growth.

Our Total Rewards program aims to ensure that colleagues are protected in the event of accident or illness, have sufficient paid time off and have the opportunity to accumulate capital for personal needs and retirement. We also aim to provide flexibility at work, including modified work arrangements and schedules (e.g. flex time, part-time, work-from-home) that enable and support colleagues to stay focused on their clients and business needs, while balancing personal commitments.

COVID-19 Response: Health, Safety and Wellbeing — We mobilized incident management teams to ensure employee safety and client service continuity in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of our colleagues began working remotely through technology enhancements, full access to flexible work-life arrangements and open communication. We continued to collect feedback and well-being ideas to help our colleagues adapt, and chartered a multi-faceted team to develop a structured approach to the ‘new normal.’ Recognizing colleagues’ varied situations, their feedback was sought on these efforts. The June all-colleague engagement survey, with high participation, showed strong support for our efforts, with over 90% of staff feeling connected to their teams, having adequate access to their managers and appreciating the flexibility. Work has since shifted to ‘reimagining the workplace,’ using lessons from the crisis to define the evolving role offices will play in how our work is done. For information regarding the impact of COVID-19 on our business and additional measures we have taken in response, see Item 7 ‘Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations-Risks and Uncertainties of the COVID-19 Pandemic.’ In addition, risks relating to COVID-19 and other human resources risks are discussed under Item 1A ‘Risk Factors’.

Competition

For a description of our competition, see the link above to the 2019 Form 10-K, and see ‘Competition’ within Part I, Item 1 Business in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, filed with the SEC on February 26, 2020.  

Regulation

For a description of the regulations under which we operate, see the link above to the 2019 Form 10-K, and see ‘Regulation’ within Part I, Item 1 Business in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, filed with the SEC on February 26, 2020.  

Information about Executive Officers of the Registrant

The executive officers of the Company as of February 23, 2021 were as follows:

Nicolas Aubert (age 55) - Mr. Aubert has served as Head of Great Britain at Willis Towers Watson since January 4, 2016, and as the CEO of Willis Limited, the Company’s U.K. insurance and reinsurance broking subsidiary, since September 30, 2015.  Since 2020, Mr. Aubert also has served as the UK Branch Director of Willis Towers Watson’s Belgian entity, Willis Towers Watson SA/NV.  Prior to his appointment as Head of Great Britain in January 2015, Mr. Aubert served as CEO of Willis GB, the operating segment of Willis Group Holdings that included Willis’ London specialty businesses and facultative business, and the retail insurance business in Great Britain. Since 2016, Mr. Aubert has served as Chair and immediate Past Chair of the London Market Group (‘LMG’), remaining a member of LMG’s board, President and immediate Past President of the Insurance Institute of London. Mr. Aubert has also served on the Executive Committee of the London & International Brokers Association and is a member of TheCityUK’s Advisory Council. Prior to joining Willis, Mr. Aubert served as the Chief Operating Officer of American International Group (‘AIG’) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and formerly as the Managing Director of AIG in the U.K. After joining AIG in June 2002 to lead AIG France, Mr. Aubert served in various other senior management positions, including Managing Director of Southern Europe, where he oversaw operations in 12 countries, including Israel. Prior to AIG, Mr. Aubert worked in various leadership positions at ACE, CIGNA, GAN and started his career at GENERALI. He holds specialized master’s degrees in insurance law (DESS Assurances) from Pantheon-Sorbonne University of Paris and from Institut des Assurances de Paris (Université Paris-Dauphine) and an M.B.A. from the French High Insurance Studies Center.

Anne D. Bodnar (age 64) - Ms. Bodnar has served as Chief Administrative Officer and Head of Human Resources since May 31, 2019. Prior to that, she served as Chief Human Resources Officer at Willis Towers Watson since January 4, 2016. Previously, Ms. Bodnar served on Towers Watson’s Management Committee since January 2015 and as Towers Watson’s Chief Administrative Officer since January 1, 2010. Ms. Bodnar previously served as Managing Director of HR at Towers Perrin beginning in 2001. From 1995 to 2000, Ms. Bodnar led Towers Perrin’s recruiting and learning and development efforts. Prior to that, she was a strategy consultant in Towers Perrin’s Human Capital business. Earlier in her career, Ms. Bodnar held several operational and strategic planning roles at what is now JPMorgan Chase. Additionally, Ms. Bodnar published a chapter entitled ‘HR as a Strategic Partner’ in Human Resources Leadership Strategies: Fifteen Ways to Enhance HR Value in Your Company. She was elected to the YWCA’s Academy of Women Achievers in 1999. Ms. Bodnar graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College and has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Michael J. Burwell (age 57) - Mr. Burwell has served as Chief Financial Officer of Willis Towers Watson since October 3, 2017. Before joining Willis Towers Watson, Mr. Burwell spent over 30 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (‘PwC’), where he served in various senior leadership roles, including, most recently, as a Senior Partner driving transformation activities with various clients across industries since 2016. Prior to that, Mr. Burwell served as Vice Chairman, Global and US Transformation Leader from 2012 to 2016, as Vice Chairman, US Operations Leader, and Chief Financial Officer from 2007 to 2012, and as Leader of the Transaction Services practice from 2005 to 2007. During his initial time at PwC, Mr. Burwell served 11 years in the assurance practice working on numerous audit clients. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Michigan State University and is a certified public accountant. In 2010, he was named Michigan State University’s Alumnus of the Year.

Matthew S. Furman (age 51) - Mr. Furman has served as General Counsel at Willis Towers Watson since January 4, 2016. Previously, Mr. Furman served as Executive Vice President and Group General Counsel at Willis Group Holdings, where he was a member of the Operating Committee since April 2015. From 2007 until March 2015, Mr. Furman was Senior Vice President, Group General Counsel-Corporate and Governance, and Corporate Secretary for The Travelers Companies, Inc. From 2000 until 2007, Mr. Furman was an attorney at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York, where he was Vice President and Associate General Counsel in the finance and corporate legal group. Prior to that, he was in private practice, with almost six years’ experience at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York. Mr. Furman also serves as a Trustee of the Jewish Theological Seminary and previously served as a Director of the Legal Aid Society and a member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee, where he served on the Executive Committee and chaired the Market Structure Subcommittee. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a law degree from Harvard Law School.

Adam L. Garrard (age 55) - Mr. Garrard has served as Head of Corporate Risk and Broking since August 14, 2019. Prior to that, he served as Head of International at Willis Towers Watson since January 4, 2016. Previously, Mr. Garrard served as Chief Executive Officer for Willis Group Holdings in Asia since September 2012. Prior to that, Mr. Garrard served as Chief Executive Officer for Willis in Europe since January 2009, Chief Executive Officer for Willis in Australasia since May 2005 and Chief Executive Officer for Asia since January 2002. Mr. Garrard has resided in Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney and London while undertaking his Chief Executive Officer roles. After graduating from De Montfort University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 1992, Mr. Garrard joined SBJ Stephenson Insurance Brokers before joining Willis in 1994.

Julie J. Gebauer (age 59) - Ms. Gebauer has served as Head of Human Capital & Benefits at Willis Towers Watson since January 4, 2016. Previously, Ms. Gebauer served as Managing Director of Towers Watson’s Talent and Rewards business segment since January 1, 2010. Beginning in 2002, Ms. Gebauer served as a Managing Director of Towers Perrin and led Towers Perrin’s global Workforce Effectiveness practice and the global Towers Perrin-International Survey Research Corporation line of business. Ms. Gebauer was a member of Towers Perrin’s Board of Directors from 2003 through 2006. She joined Towers Perrin in 1986 as a consultant and held several leadership positions at Towers Perrin, serving as the Managing Principal for the New York office from 1999 to 2001 and the U.S. East Region Leader for the Human Capital Group from 2002 to 2006. Ms. Gebauer is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries. Ms. Gebauer graduated Phi Beta Kappa and with high distinction from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and was designated a Chancellor’s Scholar.

Joseph Gunn (age 50) - Mr. Gunn has served as Head of North America at Willis Towers Watson since October 27, 2016. Previously, Mr. Gunn served as the regional director for the Northeast region of Willis Towers Watson where he led the business in both Metro New York and New England since January 4, 2016. Prior to that, Mr. Gunn served as the National Partner for the Northeast Region at Willis North America since July 2009, and before that, as the Chief Growth Officer for Willis North America and regional executive officer for the South Central region of Willis North America since August 2006. Before joining Willis in 2004, Mr. Gunn led the Client Development team of Marsh & McLennan for the North Texas operations and served as a senior relationship officer on several large accounts. Mr. Gunn serves as a member of the board of trustees of Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Florida State University.

John J. Haley (age 71) - Mr. Haley has served as Chief Executive Officer and Director at Willis Towers Watson since January 4, 2016. Previously, Mr. Haley served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Towers Watson since January 1, 2010, and as President since October 3, 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Haley served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Watson Wyatt beginning on January 1, 1999, as Chairman of the Board of Watson Wyatt beginning in 1999 and as a director of Watson Wyatt beginning in 1992. Mr. Haley joined Watson Wyatt in 1977. Prior to becoming President and Chief Executive Officer of Watson Wyatt, he was the Global Director of the Benefits group at Watson Wyatt. Mr. Haley is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and the Conference of Consulting Actuaries. He is also a co-author of Fundamentals of Private Pensions (University of Pennsylvania Press). Additionally, Mr. Haley serves on the board of MAXIMUS, Inc., a provider of health and human services program management, consulting services and system solutions, and previously served on the board of Hudson Global, Inc., an executive search, specialty staffing and related consulting services firm. He has an A.B. in mathematics from Rutgers College and studied under a fellowship at the Graduate School of Mathematics at Yale University.

Carl A. Hess (age 59) - Mr. Hess has served as Head of Investment, Risk and Reinsurance since October 27, 2016.  Previously, Mr. Hess served as the Co-Head of North America at Willis Towers Watson since January 4, 2016. Prior to that, Mr. Hess served as Managing Director, The Americas of Towers Watson since February 1, 2014, and before that, he served as the Managing Director of Towers Watson’s Investment business since January 1, 2010. Before his service at Towers Watson, Mr. Hess worked in a variety of roles for over 20 years at Watson Wyatt, lastly as Global Practice Director of Watson Wyatt’s Investment business. Mr. Hess is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and the Conference of Consulting Actuaries and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst. He has a bachelor’s degree cum laude in logic and language from Yale University.

Anne Pullum (age 38) - Ms. Pullum has served as Head of Western Europe since May 31, 2019. Prior to that, she served as the Chief Administrative Officer and Head of Strategy and Innovation at Willis Towers Watson since October 27, 2016. Beginning on January 4, 2016, Ms.Pullum served as Willis Towers Watson’s Head of Strategy, where she has played a key role in determining the Company’s strategy and worked across all business segments and functional areas. Previously, Ms. Pullum served as the Head of Strategy for Willis Group since May 2014.  Before joining Willis, Ms. Pullum worked at McKinsey & Company, where she served financial services and natural resource clients since October 2010. Prior to that, Ms. Pullum conducted economic research at Greenspan Associates in Washington, D.C. and served as an analyst in the Goldman Sachs Equities Division in London. Ms. Pullum holds an M.B.A. from INSEAD and a bachelor’s degree in international economics from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. 

Gene H. Wickes (age 68) - Mr. Wickes has served as the Head of Benefits Delivery and Administration at Willis Towers Watson since April 1, 2016. Prior to that, Mr. Wickes served as an Executive Sponsor of the combined Willis Towers Watson Merger integration team since January 4, 2016. Previously, he served as the Managing Director of the Benefits business segment of Towers Watson from January 1, 2010 until the closing of the Willis Towers Watson merger. Prior to that, he served as the Global Director of the Benefits practice of Watson Wyatt beginning in 2005 and as a member of Watson Wyatt’s Board of Directors from 2002 to 2007. Mr. Wickes was Watson Wyatt’s Global Retirement Practice Director in 2004 and the U.S. West Division’s Retirement Practice Leader from 1997 to 2004. Mr. Wickes joined Watson Wyatt in 1996 as a senior consultant and consulting actuary. Prior to joining Watson Wyatt, he spent 18 years with Towers Perrin, where he assisted organizations with welfare, retirement, and executive benefit issues. Mr. Wickes is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries, and he has a B.S. in mathematics and economics, an M.S. in mathematics and an M.S. in economics, all from Brigham Young University.

Board of Directors

A list of the members of the Board of Directors of the Company and their principal occupations is provided below:

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Executive Summary of Risk Factors

The following contains a summary of each of our risk factors. For the complete disclosure of each risk factor contained herein, please click on the respective summary.

Combination-Related Risks

Strategic, Operational and Technology Risks

Legal, Non-Financial/Tax Regulatory and Compliance Risks

Financial and Related Regulatory, Including Tax, Risks

Risk Factors

In addition to the factors discussed elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the following are some of the important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements. These risk factors should be carefully considered in evaluating our business. The descriptions below are not the only risks and uncertainties that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that are presently unknown to us could also impair our business operations, financial condition or results. If any of the risks and uncertainties below or other risks were to occur, our business operations, financial condition or results of operations could be materially and adversely impacted. With respect to the tax-related consequences of acquisition, ownership and disposal of ordinary shares, you should consult with your own tax advisors.

Combination-Related Risks

Our pending combination with Aon creates incremental business, regulatory and reputational risks.

On March 9, 2020, the Company announced that it had entered into a business combination agreement with Aon. The proposed transaction with Aon entails important risks, including, among others: the risk that we are unable to obtain the requisite regulatory approvals or satisfy all of the other conditions required to consummate the proposed transaction on the proposed terms and schedule, if at all; the risk that we and Aon are unable to successfully integrate our combined operations and employees and realize the proposed transaction’s benefits, including potential synergies, or that we are unable to realize such benefits at the times and to the extent anticipated or that results are different from those contained in forecasts when made; the risk that transaction and/or integration costs or dis-synergies are greater than expected, including as a result of conditions regulators put on any approvals of the transaction; the impact of the announcement and/or the potential impact of the consummation of the proposed transaction on relationships, including with employees, suppliers, clients and competitors; the risk that we and/or the combined company will not have the ability to hire and retain key personnel; the risk that management’s attention is diverted from other matters during the pendency of the combination;  the risk that litigation associated with the proposed combination affects the combination or the business otherwise; the risk of disruptions from the proposed transaction that impact our and/or Aon’s business, including current plans and operations; the risk posed by extensive government regulation on our business and/or the business of the combined company; the risk of adverse effects on the market price of Aon’s and the Company’s securities and on Aon’s and the Company’s operating results for any reason; and other risks described below and in the Company’s other SEC filings.

The combination is subject to customary closing conditions, including conditions related to required regulatory approvals, and may not be completed on a timely basis, or at all, or may be completed on a basis that has a material adverse impact on the value of the combined company.

The closing of the combination is subject to a number of customary conditions, and there can be no assurance that all of the conditions to the closing of the combination will be satisfied or waived (to the extent applicable) in a timely manner or at all. The failure to satisfy the required conditions could delay the closing of the combination for a significant period of time or prevent the closing of the combination from occurring at all. These closing conditions include, among others, certain antitrust-related clearances, including under the U.S. Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, referred to as the ‘HSR Act,’ the European Commission Merger Regulation and the antitrust laws of the other required antitrust jurisdictions. These closing conditions also include certain other regulatory clearances.

The governmental agencies from which the parties are seeking certain approvals related to these conditions have broad discretion in administering the applicable governing regulations. As a condition to their approval of the combination, agencies may impose requirements, limitations or costs or require divestitures or place restrictions on the conduct of the combined company’s business after the closing of the combination. Such requirements, limitations, costs or restrictions could delay or prevent the closing of the combination or have a material adverse effect on the combined company’s business and results of operations following the closing of the combination.

In addition, the closing conditions include other legal and regulatory conditions, such as: (i) the sanction by the Irish High Court of the scheme and the delivery of the court order to the Irish Registrar of Companies; (ii) the approval by the NYSE of the listing of all of the Aon shares to be issued in connection with the scheme; and (iii) the absence of any law or order that restrains, enjoins, makes illegal or otherwise prohibits the closing of the combination.

The combination is also subject to other customary closing conditions, including: (i) the Business Combination Agreement not having been terminated in accordance with its terms; (ii) the accuracy of each party’s representations and warranties made in the business combination agreement between the Company and Aon, subject to specified materiality standards; (iii) the absence of a material adverse effect with respect to each party since March 9, 2020; and (iv) the performance and compliance by each party of all of its obligations and compliance with all of its covenants under the business combination agreement in all material respects. There can be

no assurance that the conditions to the closing of the combination will be satisfied or waived or that the combination will be completed within the expected time frame, or at all.

In addition, if the combination is not completed by March 9, 2021 (or June 9, 2021 or September 9, 2021, if automatically extended under the terms of the business combination agreement, if applicable, or such earlier date as may be specified by the Irish Takeover Panel), either Aon or the Company may choose not to proceed with the combination. The parties can mutually decide to terminate the business combination agreement at any time.

The combination subjects us to various significant restrictions on our operations between signing and closing.

The business combination agreement subjects the Company to various significant restrictions on its operations between signing and closing. Those include, among others, with respect to share repurchases, the incurrence of debt above thresholds or the acquisition or disposition of assets above specified thresholds, and specified changes to compensation and benefit programs. In addition, under Irish law, many of the same (and certain additional) actions occurring between signing and closing require the prior approval of the Irish Takeover Panel. If the Company desires to take any of the specified actions, and does not receive the consent of Aon and/or the Irish Takeover Panel, these restrictions may prevent the Company from pursuing otherwise attractive business opportunities or making changes to its business or operations prior to the closing of the combination or the termination of the business combination agreement, which in turn could materially impact the Company’s financial condition and results of operation.

Failure to close the combination could negatively impact the share price and the future business and financial results of the Company.

If the combination is not completed for any reason, the Company’s ongoing business may be adversely affected and, without realizing the potential benefits of the completion of the combination, the Company will be subject to a number of risks, including the following:

If the combination does not close, these risks may materialize and may adversely affect the Company’s business, financial results and share price.

Litigation filed against us could prevent or delay the completion of the combination or result in the payment of damages following completion of the combination.

We and members of our board of directors have been and may in the future be parties, among others, to various claims and litigation related to the business combination agreement and the combination. The results of complex legal proceedings are difficult to predict, and could delay or prevent the completion of the combination in a timely manner or at all, and could result in substantial costs to us, including, but not limited to, costs associated with the indemnification of our directors and officers. Moreover, such litigation could be time consuming and expensive, and such litigation could divert our management’s attention away from their regular businesses. Adverse rulings in any of these lawsuits could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition.

One of the conditions to the closing of the combination is that no order (whether temporary or permanent) has been issued, promulgated, made, rendered or entered into by any court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction which restrains, enjoins, makes illegal or otherwise prohibits the consummation of the combination (excluding certain laws and orders unrelated to the required

antitrust clearances and the required regulatory clearances). Consequently, if any suits are brought and plaintiffs are successful in obtaining an injunction prohibiting the Company and Aon from completing the combination on the terms contemplated by the business combination agreement, such an injunction may delay the completion of the combination in the expected timeframe, or may prevent the combination from being completed altogether.

Strategic, Operational and Technology Risks

Our success largely depends on our ability to achieve our global business strategy as it evolves, and our results of operations and financial condition could suffer if the Company were unable to successfully establish and execute on its strategy and generate anticipated revenue growth and cost savings and efficiencies.

Our future growth, profitability and cash flows largely depend upon our ability to successfully establish and execute our global business strategy. As discussed under Item 1, ‘Business - Business Strategy’, we seek to be an advisory, broking and solutions provider of choice through an integrated global platform. While we have confidence that our strategic plan reflects opportunities that are appropriate and achievable, there is a possibility that our strategy may not deliver projected long-term growth in revenue and profitability due to inadequate execution, incorrect assumptions, global or local economic conditions, competition, changes in the industries in which we operate, sub-optimal resource allocation or any of the other risks described in this ‘Risk Factors’ section. In addition, our strategy continues to evolve, and it is possible that we will be unable to successfully execute the associated strategy changes, due to factors discussed above or elsewhere in this ‘Risk Factors’ section. In pursuit of our growth strategy, we may also invest significant time and resources into new product or service offerings, and there is the possibility that these offerings may fail to yield sufficient return to cover their investment. The failure to continually develop and execute optimally on our global business strategy could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and may be substantially and negatively impacted by it in the future.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an adverse impact on global commercial activity, including the global supply chain, and has contributed to strain in financial markets, including, among other effects, significant volatility in equity markets, changes in interest rates and reduced liquidity on a global basis. It has also resulted in increased travel restrictions and extended shutdowns of businesses in various industries including, among others, travel, trade, tourism, health systems and food supply, and significantly reduced overall economic output. As such, there is a risk that COVID-19 could have a substantial negative impact on client demand and cash flow.

COVID-19 risks magnify other risks discussed in this report and any of our SEC filings. For example, the effectiveness of external parties, including governmental and non-governmental organizations, in combating the spread and severity of COVID-19 could have a material impact on demand for our business. In addition, steps taken by market counterparties such as (re)insurance carriers to limit their exposures to COVID-19 and related risks could have an impact on their willingness to provide or renew coverage for our clients on historical terms and pricing, which could again impact demand for our business. Coverage disputes arising out of the pandemic could also increase our professional liability risk by increasing the frequency and severity of allegations by others that, in the course of providing services, we have committed errors or omissions for which we should have liability.  Also, travel restrictions have caused the postponement, modification or cancellation of various conferences and meetings around the world and adversely impacted sales activity. The rapid development and fluidity of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the continued development, availability, distribution and acceptance of an effective vaccine, precludes any prediction as to the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ultimate adverse impact of COVID-19 on our business. Nevertheless, COVID-19 continues to present material uncertainty and risk with respect to demand for our products and services.

In addition, COVID-19 has disrupted certain aspects of our business and could continue to disrupt, possibly materially, our own business operations and the services we provide, as well as the business operations of our clients, suppliers and other third parties with whom we interact. As an increasing percentage of our colleagues continue to work remotely, we face resiliency risks, such as the risk that our information technology platform could potentially be inadequate to support increasing demand, as well as the risk that unusual working arrangements could impact the effectiveness of our operations or controls. The economic disruption caused by COVID-19 has impacted the pace at which we have made information technology-based investments, and we may continue to make fewer information technology-based investments than previously anticipated, which could potentially create business operational risk. In addition, we depend on third-party platforms and other infrastructure to provide certain of our products and services, and such third-party infrastructures face similar resiliency risks. These factors have exposed us to increased phishing and other cybersecurity attacks as cybercriminals try to exploit the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an increase in the number of points of potential attack, such as laptops and mobile devices (both of which are now being used in increased numbers as many of our employees work remotely), to be secured. A failure to effectively manage these risks, including to promptly identify and appropriately respond to any cyberattacks, may adversely affect our business.

Also, a potential COVID-19 infection of any of our key colleagues could substantially and negatively impact our operations. Further, it is possible that COVID-19 causes us to close down call centers and other processes on which we rely, or impacts processes of third-party vendors on whom we rely, which could also materially impact our operations. Resultant changes in financial markets could also have a material impact on our own hedging and other financial transactions, which could impact our liquidity. In addition, it is possible that COVID-19 restrictions could create difficulty for satisfying our legal or regulatory filing or other obligations, including with the SEC and other regulators.

All of the foregoing events or potential outcomes, including in combination with other risk factors included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, could cause a substantial negative effect on our results of operations in any period and, depending on their severity, could also substantially and negatively affect our financial condition. Furthermore, such potential material adverse effects may lag behind the developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Such events and outcomes also could potentially impact our reputation with clients and regulators, among others.  

Demand for our services could decrease for various reasons, including a general economic downturn, increased competition, or a decline in a client’s or an industry’s financial condition or prospects, all of which could materially adversely affect us.

We can give no assurance that the demand for our services will grow or be maintained, or that we will compete successfully with our existing competitors, new competitors or our clients’ internal capabilities. Client demand for our services may change based on the clients’ needs and financial conditions, among other factors.

Our results of operations are affected directly by the level of business activity of our clients, which in turn is affected by the level of economic activity in the industries and markets that they serve. For example, any changes in U.S. trade policy (including any increases in tariffs that result in a trade war), ongoing stock market volatility or an increase in, or unmet market expectations with respect to, interest rates could adversely affect the general economy. As a result, global financial markets may continue to experience disruptions, including increased volatility and reduced credit availability, which could substantially impact our results. Likewise, COVID-19 and related economic disruption could have a material adverse impact on global demand from our clients, in addition to the potential impact of pandemics on our own operations discussed elsewhere in this report. While it is difficult to predict the consequences of any deterioration in global economic conditions on our business, any significant reduction or delay by our clients in purchasing our services or insurance or making payment of premiums could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the potential for a significant insurer to fail, be downgraded or withdraw from writing certain lines of insurance coverages that we offer our clients could negatively impact overall capacity in the industry, which could then reduce the placement of certain lines and types of insurance and reduce our revenue and profitability. The potential for an insurer to fail or be downgraded could also result in errors and omissions claims by clients.

In addition, the markets for our principal services are highly competitive. Our competitors include other insurance brokerage (including direct-to-consumer Medicare brokerage), human capital and risk management consulting and actuarial firms, and the human capital and risk management divisions of diversified professional services, insurance, brokerage and accounting firms and specialty, regional and local firms.

Competition for business is intense in all of our business lines and in every insurance market, and some competitors have greater market share in certain lines of business than we do. Some of our competitors have greater financial, technical and marketing resources than us, which could enhance their ability to finance acquisitions, fund internal growth and respond more quickly to professional and technological changes. New competitors, as well as increasing and evolving consolidation or alliances among existing competitors, have created and could continue to create additional competition and could significantly reduce our market share, resulting in a loss of business for us and a corresponding decline in revenue and profit margin. In order to respond to increased competition and pricing pressure, we may have to lower our prices, which would also have an adverse effect on our revenue and profit margin.

In addition, existing and new competitors (whether traditional competitors or non-traditional competitors, such as technology companies) could develop competing technologies or product or service offerings that disrupt our industries. Any new technology or product or service offering (including insurance companies selling their products directly to consumers or other insureds) that reduces or eliminates the need for intermediaries in insurance or reinsurance sales transactions could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Further, the increasing willingness of clients to either self-insure or maintain a captive insurance company, and the development of capital markets-based solutions and other alternative capital sources for traditional insurance and reinsurance needs, could also materially adversely affect us and our results of operations.

An example of a business that may be significantly impacted by changes in customer demand is our retirement consulting and actuarial business, which comprises a substantial portion of our revenue and profit. We provide clients with actuarial and consulting services relating to both defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans. Defined benefit pension plans generally require more

actuarial services than defined contribution plans because defined benefit plans typically involve large asset pools, complex calculations to determine employer costs, funding requirements and sophisticated analysis to match liabilities and assets over long periods of time. If organizations shift to defined contribution plans more rapidly than we anticipate, or if we are unable to otherwise compensate for the decline in our business that results from employers moving away from defined benefit plans, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. Furthermore, large and complex consulting projects, often involving dedicated personnel, resources and expenses, comprise a significant portion of this business, which are based on our clients’ discretionary needs and may be reduced based on a decline in a client’s or an industry’s financial condition or prospects. We also face the risk that certain large and complex project contracts may be reduced or terminated based on dissatisfaction with service levels, which could result in reduced revenue, write-offs of assets associated with the project, and disputes over the contract, all of which may adversely impact our results and business.

In addition, the demand for many of our core benefit services, including compliance-related services, is affected by government regulation and taxation of employee benefit plans. Significant changes in tax or social welfare policy or other regulations could lead some employers to discontinue their employee benefit plans, including defined benefit pension plans, thereby reducing the demand for our services. A simplification of regulations or tax policy also could reduce the need for our services.

Data security breaches or improper disclosure of confidential company or personal data could result in material financial loss, regulatory actions, reputational harm or legal liability.

We depend on information technology networks and systems to process, transmit and store electronic information and to communicate among our locations around the world and with our alliance partners, insurance carriers/markets, clients and third-party vendors. Additionally, one of our significant responsibilities is to maintain the security and privacy of our clients’ confidential and proprietary information and the personal data of their customers and employees. Our information systems, and those of our third-party service providers and vendors, are vulnerable to an increasing threat of continually evolving cybersecurity risks. We are the target of computer viruses, hackers, distributed denial of service attacks, malware infections, ransomware attacks, phishing and spear-phishing campaigns and/or other external hazards, as well as improper or inadvertent workforce behavior which, could expose confidential company and personal data systems and information to security breaches.

Many of the software applications that we use in our business are licensed from, and supported, upgraded and maintained by, third-party vendors. Our third-party applications include, but are not limited to, enterprise cloud storage and cloud computing application services provided and maintained by third-party vendors. These third-party applications store or may afford access to confidential and proprietary data of the Company, our employees and our clients. We have processes designed to require third-party vendors that provide IT outsourcing, offsite storage and other services to agree to maintain certain standards with respect to the storage, protection and transfer of confidential, personal and proprietary information. However, this data is at risk of compromise or unauthorized access or use in the event of a breakdown of a vendor’s data protection processes, a data breach due to the intentional or unintentional non-compliance by a vendor’s employee or agent, or as a result of a cyber-attack on the product, software or information systems of a vendor in our software supply chain. Any compromise of the product, software, data or infrastructure of a Company vendor, including a software or IT vendor in our supply chain, could in turn result in the compromise of Company data or infrastructure or result in material operational disruption. Further, the risk and potential impact of a data breach on our third-party vendors’ products, software or systems increase as we move more of our data and our clients’ data into our vendors’ cloud storage, engage in IT outsourcing, and consolidate the group of third-party vendors that provide cloud storage or other IT services for the Company. Over time, the frequency, severity and sophistication of the attacks against us and our vendors have increased, including due to the use of artificial intelligence for purposes of cybercrime, and the broader range of threat actors, including state-sponsored actors and hacker activists.

We and our vendors regularly experience cybersecurity incidents, including successful attacks from time to time, and we expect that to continue going forward. Cybersecurity incidents include those resulting from human error or malfeasance, implantation of malware and viruses, phishing and spear-phishing attacks, unauthorized access to our information technology networks and systems, and unauthorized access to data or individual account funds through fraud or other means of deceiving our colleagues, third-party service providers and vendors. We have experienced successful attacks, by various types of hacking groups, in which personal and commercially sensitive information, belonging to the Company or its clients, has been compromised.  However, none of these cybersecurity incidents or attacks to our knowledge have been material to our business or financial results. We cannot assure that such cybersecurity incidents or attacks will not have a material impact on our business or financial results in the future. When required by law, we have notified individuals and relevant regulatory authorities (such as insurance/financial services regulators and privacy regulators) of such cybersecurity incidents or attacks.

We maintain policies, procedures and administrative, physical and technological safeguards (such as, where in place, multifactor authentication and encryption of data in transit and at rest) designed to protect the security and privacy of the data in our custody and control. However, such safeguards are time-consuming and expensive to deploy broadly and are not necessarily always in place or effective, and we cannot entirelyeliminate the risk of data security breaches, improper access to, takeover of or disclosure of

confidential company or personally identifiable information. We may not be able to detect and assess such issues, or implement appropriate remediation, in a timely manner. We are engaged in an ongoing effort to enhance our protections against such attacks; this effort will require significant expenditures and may not be successful. Our technology may fail to adequately secure the private information we hold and protect it from theft, computer viruses, hackers or inadvertent loss.

If any person, including any of our colleagues, intentionally or unintentionally fails to comply with, disregards or intentionally breaches our established controls with respect to such data or otherwise mismanages or misappropriates that data, we could be subject to monetary damages, fines, regulatory enforcement and/or criminal prosecution. Unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or confidential client, supplier or employee data, whether through systems failure, accident, employee negligence, fraud or misappropriation, could damage our reputation and cause us to lose clients. Similarly, unauthorized access to or through our information systems or those we develop for our clients, whether by our colleagues or third parties, could result in significant additional expenses (including expenses relating to incident response and investigation, remediation work, notification of data security breaches and costs of credit monitoring services), negative publicity, operational disruption, legal liability and damage to our reputation, as well as require substantial resources and effort of management, thereby diverting management’s focus and resources from business operations.

The methods used to obtain unauthorized access to, disable or degrade service or sabotage the Company’s systems are also constantly evolving, are increasingly sophisticated, and may be difficult to anticipate or detect. For example, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (‘FBI’), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and other U.S. federal agencies continue to issue warnings about trends in cybercriminal and nation-state activity and other threats that are consistent with some of the types of incidents we have experienced. To our knowledge, these incidents have not had a material impact on our business or operations thus far. However, our reputation could be harmed and our business and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected if we were to be the target of such attacks in the future, or if, despite our controls and efforts to detect breaches, we were to be the victim of an undetected breach.

We have implemented and regularly review and update processes and procedures to protect against fraud and unauthorized access to and use of secured data and to prevent data loss. The ever-evolving threats mean that we and our third-party service providers and vendors must continually evaluate, adapt, enhance and otherwise improve our respective systems and processes, especially as we grow our mobile, cloud and other internet-based services.  There is no guarantee that such efforts will be adequate to safeguard against all fraud, data security breaches, unauthorized access, operational impacts or misuses of data. For example, our policies, employee training (including phishing prevention training), procedures and technical safeguards may be insufficient to prevent or detect improper access to confidential, personal or proprietary information by employees, vendors or other third parties with otherwise legitimate access to our systems. In addition, we may not be able to implement such efforts as quickly as desired if, for example, greater resources are required than originally expected or resources and management’s focus are insufficient. Any future significant compromise or breach of our data security or fraud, whether external or internal, or misuse of client, colleague, supplier or company data, could result in additional significant costs, lost revenue opportunities, disruption of operations and service, fines, lawsuits, and damage to our reputation with our clients and in the broader market.

We could be subject to claims and lawsuits arising from our work, which could materially adversely affect our reputation, business and financial condition.

We depend in large part on our relationships with clients and our reputation for high-quality services to secure future engagements. Clients that become dissatisfied with our services may terminate their business relationships with us, and clients and third parties that claim they suffered damages caused by our services may bring lawsuits against us. We are subject to various actual and potential claims, lawsuits, investigations and other proceedings relating principally to alleged errors and omissions in connection with the provision of our services or the placement of insurance and reinsurance in the ordinary course of business. We are also subject to actual and potential claims, lawsuits, investigations and proceedings outside of errors and omissions claims. See Note 14 - Commitments and Contingencies in Item 8 in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for examples of claims to which we are subject.

Because we often assist our clients with matters involving substantial amounts of money and complex regulatory requirements, including actuarial services, asset management, technology solutions development and implementation and the placement of insurance coverage and the handling of related claims, errors and omissions claims against us may arise that allege our potential liability for all or part of the substantial amounts in question. The nature of our work, particularly our actuarial services, necessarily involves the use of assumptions and the preparation of estimates relating to future and contingent events, the actual outcome of which we cannot know in advance. Our actuarial and brokerage services also rely on substantial amounts of data provided by clients, the accuracy and quality of which we may not be able to ensure. In addition, we could make computational, software programming or data management errors in connection with the services we provide to clients.

Clients may seek to hold us responsible for alleged errors or omissions relating to any of the brokerage advice and services we provide, including when claims they submit to their insurance carriers are disputed or denied. This risk is likely to be higher in

circumstances, such as claims related to COVID-19, where there are significant disputes between clients and insurance carriers over coverage.  Given that many of our clients have very high insurance policy limits to cover their risks, alleged errors and omissions claims against us arising from disputed or denied claims are often significant. Moreover, in certain circumstances, our brokerage, investment and certain other types of business may not limit the maximum liability to which we may be exposed for claims involving alleged errors or omissions; and as such, we do not have limited liability for the work we provide to the associated clients.

Further, given that we frequently work with large pension funds and insurance companies as well as other large clients, relatively small percentage errors or variances can create significant financial variances and result in significant claims for unintended or unfunded liabilities. The risks from such variances or errors could be aggravated in an environment of declining pension fund asset values and insurance company capital levels. In almost all cases, our exposure to liability with respect to a particular engagement is substantially greater than the revenue opportunity that the engagement generates for us.

Clients may seek to hold us responsible for the financial consequences of variances between assumptions and estimates and actual outcomes or for errors. For example, in the case of pension plan actuarial work, a client’s claims might focus on the client’s alleged reliance on actuarial assumptions that it believes were unreasonable and, based on such reliance, the client made benefit commitments that it may later claim are not affordable or funding decisions that result in plan underfunding if and when actual outcomes vary from actuarial assumptions.

We also continue to create new products and services (including increasingly complex technology solutions) and to grow the business of providing products and services to institutional investors, financial services companies and other clients. The risk of claims from these lines of business and related products and services may be greater than from our core products or services, and such claims may be for significant amounts as we take on increasingly complicated projects, including those with complex regulatory requirements.

We also provide advice on both asset allocation and selection of investment managers. Increasingly, for many clients, we are responsible for making decisions on both of these matters, or we may serve in a fiduciary capacity, either of which may increase liability exposure. In addition, the Company offers affiliated investment funds, including in the U.S. and Ireland, with plans to launch additional funds over time. Given that our Investment business may recommend affiliated investment funds or affirmatively invest such clients’ assets in such funds under delegated authority, this may increase our liability exposure. We may also be liable for actions of managers or other service providers to the funds. Further, for certain clients, we are responsible for some portions of cash and investment management, including rebalancing of investment portfolios and guidance to third parties on the structure of derivatives and securities transactions. Asset classes may experience poor absolute performance, and investment managers may underperform their benchmarks; in both cases the investment return shortfall can be significant. Clients experiencing this underperformance, including from our affiliated investment funds, may assert claims against us, and such claims may be for significant amounts. In addition, our failure to properly execute our role can cause monetary damage to our clients or such third parties for which we might be found liable, and such claims may be for significant amounts. Our expected expansion of this business geographically and in new offerings will subject us to additional contractual exposures and obligations with investors, asset managers and third party service providers, as well as increased regulatory exposures. Overall, our ability to contractually limit our potential liability may be limited in certain jurisdictions or markets or in connection with claims involving breaches of fiduciary duties or other alleged errors or omissions.

The ultimate outcome of all of the above matters cannot be ascertained and liabilities in indeterminate amounts may be imposed on us. In addition, our insurance coverage may not be sufficient in type or amount to cover us against such liabilities. It is thus possible that future results of operations or cash flows for any particular quarterly or annual period could be materially adversely affected by an unfavorable resolution of these matters. In addition, these matters continue to divert management and personnel resources away from operating our business. Even if we do not experience significant monetary costs, there may be adverse publicity associated with these matters that could result in reputational harm to the industries we operate in or to us in particular that may adversely affect our business, client or employee relationships. In addition, defending against these claims can involve potentially significant costs, including legal defense costs.

As a highly-regulated company, we are subject from time to time to inquiries or investigations by governmental agencies or regulators that could have a material adverse effect on our business or results of operations.

We have also been and may continue to be subject to inquiries and investigations by federal, state or other governmental agencies regarding aspects of our clients’ businesses or our own businesses, especially regulated businesses such as our insurance broker, securities broker-dealer and investment advisory services. Such inquiries or investigations may consume significant management time and result in regulatory sanctions, fines or other actions as well as significant legal fees, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and liquidity. Also, we may face additional regulatory scrutiny as we expand our businesses geographically and in new products and services that we offer.

Examples of these inquiries or investigations are set forth in more detail in Note 14 — Commitments and Contingencies in Item 8 in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. These include various ongoing civil investigation proceedings in respect of alleged exchanges of commercially sensitive information among competitors in aviation and aerospace insurance and reinsurance broking.

All of these items reflect an increased focus by regulators (in the U.K., U.S. and elsewhere) on various aspects of the operations and affairs of our regulated businesses. We are unable to predict the outcome of these inquiries or investigations. Any proposed changes that result from these investigations and inquiries, or any other investigations, inquiries or regulatory developments, or any potential fines or enforcement action, could materially adversely affect our business and our results of operations.

Our growth strategy depends, in part, on our ability to make acquisitions. We face risks when we acquire or divest businesses, and we could have difficulty in acquiring, integrating or managing acquired businesses, or with effecting internal reorganizations, all of which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations or reputation.

Our growth depends in part on our ability to make acquisitions. We may not be successful in identifying appropriate acquisition candidates or consummating acquisitions on terms acceptable or favorable to us. We also face additional risks related to acquisitions, including that we could overpay for acquired businesses and that any acquired business could significantly underperform relative to our expectations. In addition, we may not repurchase as many of our outstanding shares as anticipated due to our acquisition activity or investment opportunities, as well as other market or business conditions. If we are unable to identify and successfully make, integrate and manage acquisitions, our business could be materially adversely affected. In addition, we face risks related to divesting businesses, including that we may not receive adequate consideration in return for the divested business, we may continue to be subject to the liabilities of the divested business after its divestiture (including with respect to work we might have performed on behalf of the divested business), and we may not be able to reduce overhead or redeploy assets or retain colleagues after the divestiture closes. For example, we recently announced that we have agreed to sell Miller, subject to closing conditions, and that transaction may give rise to a number of such risks.

In addition, we cannot be certain that our acquisitions will be accretive to earnings or that our acquisitions or divestitures will otherwise meet our operational or strategic expectations. Acquisitions involve special risks, including the potential assumption of unanticipated liabilities and contingencies and difficulties in integrating acquired businesses, and acquired businesses may not achieve the levels of revenue, profit or productivity we anticipate or otherwise perform as we expect. In addition, if the operating performance of an acquired business deteriorates significantly, we may need to write down the value of the goodwill and other acquisition-related intangible assets recorded on our consolidated balance sheet.

We may be unable to effectively integrate an acquired business into our organization and may not succeed in managing such acquired businesses or the larger company that results from such acquisitions. The process of integrating an acquired business may subject us to a number of risks, including, without limitation, an inability to retain the management, key personnel and other employees of the acquired business; an inability to establish uniform standards, controls, systems, procedures and policies or to achieve anticipated savings; and exposure to legal claims for activities of the acquired business prior to acquisition.

Certain recently-completed or pending acquisitions, including the acquisition of TRANZACT, a U.S.-based direct-to-consumer health care organization that links individuals to U.S. insurance carriers, and the acquisition of Unity Group, an insurance broking business with operations in six Central American countries, entail important incremental risks in addition to those described above. With respect to both transactions, we face the risk related to the potential impacts of the transaction and integration on relationships, including with employees, correspondents, suppliers, clients and competitors, as well as the risk related to contingent liabilities (including litigation) potentially creating material liabilities for the Company. The following risks, in addition to those described above, may also adversely affect our ability to successfully implement and integrate these acquisitions: material changes in U.S. and foreign jurisdiction regulations (including those related to the healthcare system and Medicare and insurance brokerage services); changes in general economic, business and political conditions in relevant markets, including changes in the financial markets; significant competition in the marketplace; and compliance with extensive and evolving government regulations in the U.S. and in foreign jurisdictions. 

If acquisitions are not successfully integrated and the intended benefits of the acquisitions are not achieved, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected, as well as our professional reputation. We also own an interest in a number of associates and companies where we do not exercise management control and we are therefore limited in our ability to direct or manage the business to realize the anticipated benefits that we could achieve if we had full ownership.  

Our ability to successfully manage ongoing organizational changes could impact our business results, where the level of costs and/or disruption may be significant and change over time, and the benefits may be less than we originally expect.

We have in the past few years undergone several significant business and organizational changes, including multi-year operational improvement programs, among others. In addition, the proposed Aon combination has and will continue to create significant post-closing integration planning initiatives.  There are also a number of other initiatives planned or ongoing to transform and update our

systems and processes and gain efficiencies. In addition, our strategy continues to evolve, and such evolution may result in further organizational changes as we may decide, based on our perceived business needs, to make investments that may be greater than we currently anticipate. In connection with all these changes, we may manage a number of large-scale and complex projects. Such projects may include multiple and connected phases, many of which may be dependent on factors that are outside of our control. While we plan to undertake these types of large, complex projects based on our determination that each is necessary or desirable for the execution of the Company’s business strategy, we cannot guarantee that the collective effect of all of these projects will not adversely impact our business or results of operations or that the benefits will be as we originally expect. Effectively managing these organizational changes (including ensuring that they are implemented on schedule, within budget and without interruption to the existing business or that transitions to new systems do not create significant control vulnerabilities during the period of transition) is critical to retaining talent, servicing clients and our business success overall. Many of the risks described herein increase during periods of significant organizational change. The failure to effectively manage such risks could adversely impact our resources or business or financial results.

Our inability to successfully recover should we experience a disaster or other business continuity problem could cause material financial loss, loss of human capital, regulatory actions, reputational harm or legal liability.

Should we experience a disaster or other business continuity problem, such as an earthquake, hurricane, terrorist attack, pandemic, including prolonged effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, security breach, ransomware or destructive malware attack, power loss, telecommunications failure or other natural or man-made disaster, our continued success will depend, in part, on the availability of our personnel, our office facilities, access to data, and the proper functioning of our computer, telecommunication and other related systems and operations. In such an event, we could experience operational challenges with regard to our operations.

A disaster on a significant scale or affecting certain of our key operating areas within or across regions, or our inability to successfully recover should we experience a disaster or other business continuity problem, could materially interrupt our business operations and cause material financial loss, loss of human capital, regulatory actions, reputational harm, damaged client relationships or legal liability, particularly if any of these problems occur during peak times.

Interruption to or loss of our information processing capabilities or failure to effectively maintain and upgrade our information processing hardware or systems could cause material financial loss, regulatory actions, reputational harm or legal liability.

Our business depends significantly on effective information systems. Our capacity to service our clients relies on effective storage, retrieval, processing and management of information. Our information systems also rely on the commitment of significant financial and other resources to maintain and enhance existing systems, develop and create new systems and products in order to keep pace with continuing changes in information processing technology or evolving industry and regulatory standards. We rely on being at the forefront of a range of technology options relevant to our business, including by staying ahead of the technology offered by our competitors, and attracting, developing, and retaining skilled individuals in the cybersecurity space.The market for such qualified individuals is competitive and we may be unable to hire the necessary talent to mitigate the foregoing risks.

In addition, many of the software applications, including enterprise cloud storage and cloud computing application services, that we use in our business are licensed from, and supported, upgraded and maintained by, third-party vendors. We are significantly increasing our use of such cloud services and expect this to continue over time. These third-party applications store confidential and proprietary data of the Company, our clients and our employees. A suspension or termination of certain of these licenses or the related support, upgrades and maintenance could cause temporary system delays or interruptions that could adversely impact our business. As a global organization, we occasionally acquire other companies or spin-off certain of our existing business lines. These strategic business decisions may require us to manage complex integrations or dissolutions of information systems, and we may fail to identify vulnerabilities in our targets’ information systems or in integrated components of our respective information systems. These transactions may make us more susceptible to cyberattacks and could result in the theft of Company intellectual property, the compromise of Company, employee, and client data or operational disruption.

Any finding that the data we rely on to run our business is inaccurate or unreliable, that we fail to maintain effective and efficient systems (including through a telecommunications failure, failure to replace or update redundant or obsolete computer hardware, applications or software systems, or the loss of skilled people with the knowledge needed to operate older systems), or that we experience cost overruns, delays, or other disruptions, could result in material financial loss, regulatory action, reputational harm or legal liability.

The United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, which occurred on January 31, 2020, and the risk that other countries may follow, could adversely affect us.

In 2020, approximately 21% of our revenue was generated in the U.K., although only about 12% of revenue was denominated in Pounds sterling as much of the insurance business is transacted in U.S. dollars. Approximately 20% of our expenses were denominated in Pounds sterling. It remains difficult to predict with any level of certainty the impact that Brexit will have on the

economy; economic, regulatory and political stability; and market conditions in Europe, including in the U.K., or on the Pound sterling, Euro or other European currencies, but any such impacts and others we cannot currently anticipate could materially adversely affect us and our operations. Among other things, we could experience: lower growth in the region due to indecision by businesses holding off on generating new projects or due to adverse market conditions; and reduced reported revenue and earnings because foreign currencies may translate into fewer U.S. dollars due to the fact that we translate revenue denominated in non-U.S. currencies, such as Pounds sterling, into U.S. dollars for our financial statements. In addition, there can be no assurance that our hedging strategies will be effective.

On December 24, 2020, the E.U. and the U.K. agreed to the terms of a Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the ‘TCA’) that reflects certain matters agreed upon between the parties in relation to a broad range of separation issues. The TCA has been signed and ratified by the U.K. and signed by the E.U. The E.U. Parliament has until February 28, 2021 to ratify the TCA, subject to any agreed extension, though the TCA applies provisionally from January 1, 2021. While many separation issues have been resolved, some uncertainty remains in relation to the future regulation of financial services, among other matters. The TCA addresses issues related to financial services on a limited basis, and the E.U. and the U.K have separately agreed upon a Joint Declaration on Financial Services Regulatory Cooperation (the ‘Joint Declaration’) which among other things provides that the parties will by March 2021, agree to a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a framework for future regulatory cooperation. The British government and the E.U. will therefore continue over time to negotiate certain terms of the U.K.'s future relationship with the E.U. that are not addressed in the TCA. The Company is heavily invested in the U.K. through our businesses and activities. If the outcomes of Brexit and the TCA negatively impact the U.K., then it could have a material adverse impact on us. Brexit has resulted in greater restrictions on business conducted between the U.K. and E.U. countries and has increased regulatory complexities. There also remains uncertainty as to how changes to the U.K.'s access to the E.U. Single Market and the wider trading, legal, regulatory, tax, social and labor environments, especially in the U.K. and E.U., will be impacted over time, including the resulting impacts on our business and that of our clients. These changes may adversely affect our operations and financial results. For example, a loss of pre-Brexit passporting rights or other changed regulations relating to doing business in various E.U. countries by relying on a regulatory permission in the U.K. (or doing business in the U.K. by relying on a regulatory permission in an E.U. country) may over time increase our costs of doing business, or our ability to do so, and thereby adversely impact our operations and financial results.

We believe we have implemented appropriate arrangements for the continued servicing of client business in the countries most affected. These arrangements include the transaction of certain businesses and/or the movement of certain businesses outside of the U.K. However, various significant risks remain in relation to the effects of the post-Brexit arrangements between the E.U. and U.K. some of which have yet to be agreed upon, including the following, among others:

There is also a risk that other countries may decide to leave the E.U. We cannot predict the impact that any additional countries leaving the E.U. will have on us, but any such impacts could materially adversely affect us.

Allegations of conflicts of interest, including in connection with accepting market derived income (‘MDI’), may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operation or reputation.

We could suffer significant financial or reputational harm if we fail to properly identify and manage potential conflicts of interest. Conflicts of interest exist or could exist any time the Company or any of its employees have or may have an interest in a transaction or engagement that is inconsistent with our clients’ interests. This could occur, for example, when the Company is providing services to

multiple parties in connection with a transaction. In addition, as we provide more solutions-based services, there is greater potential for conflicts with advisory services. Managing conflicts of interest is an important issue for the Company, but can be a challenge for a large and complex company such as ours. Due to the broad scope of our businesses and our client base, we regularly address potential conflicts of interest, including, without limitation, situations where our services to a particular client or our own investments or other interests conflict, or are perceived to conflict, with the interests of another client. If these are not carefully managed, this could then lead to failure or perceived failure to protect the client’s interests, with attendant regulatory and reputational risks that could materially adversely affect us and our operations. There is no guarantee that all potential conflicts of interest will be identified, and undetected conflicts may result in damage to our professional reputation and result in legal liability which may have a material adverse effect on our business. Identifying conflicts of interest may also prove particularly difficult as we continue to bring systems and information together and integrate newly acquired businesses. In addition, we may not be able to adequately address such conflicts of interest.

In addition, insurance intermediaries have traditionally been remunerated by base commissions paid by insurance carriers in respect of placements we make for clients, or by fees paid by clients. Intermediaries also obtain other revenue from insurance carriers. This revenue, when derived from carriers in their capacity as insurance markets (as opposed to as corporate clients of the intermediaries where they may be purchasing insurance or reinsurance or other non-market-related services), is commonly known as market derived income or ‘MDI’. MDI is another example of an area in which allegations of conflicts of interest may arise. MDI takes a variety of forms, including volume- or profit-based contingent commissions, facilities administration charges, business development agreements, and fees for providing certain data to carriers.

MDI creates various risks. Intermediaries in many markets have a duty to act in the best interests of their clients and payments from carriers can incentivize intermediaries to put carriers’ or their own interests ahead of their clients. Accordingly, MDI may be subject to scrutiny by various regulators under conflict of interest, anti-trust, unfair competition, conduct and anti-bribery laws and regulations. While accepting MDI is a lawful and acceptable business practice, and while we have established systems and controls to manage these risks, we cannot predict whether our position will result in regulatory or other scrutiny and our controls may not be effective.

In addition, the Company offers affiliated investment funds, with plans to launch additional funds over time. Given that our Investment business may recommend affiliated investment funds or affirmatively invest such clients’ assets in such funds under delegated authority, there may be a perceived conflict of interest. While the Company has processes, procedures and controls in place intended to mitigate potential conflicts, such perception could cause regulatory inquiries, or could impact client demand and the business’ financial performance, and our controls may not be effective. In addition, underperformance by our affiliated investment funds could lead to lawsuits by clients that were invested in such funds.

The failure or perceived failure to adequately address conflicts of interest could affect the willingness of clients to deal with us, or give rise to litigation or enforcement actions. Conflicts of interest may also arise in the future that could cause material harm to us.

Damage to our reputation, including due to the failure of third parties on whom we rely to perform services or public opinions of third parties with whom we associate, could adversely affect our businesses.

Maintaining a positive reputation is critical to our ability to attract and maintain relationships with clients and colleagues. Damage to our reputation could therefore cause significant harm to our business and prospects. Harm to our reputation can arise from numerous sources, including among others, employee misconduct, litigation or regulatory action, failure to deliver minimum standards of service and quality, compliance failures, allegations of conflicts of interest and unethical behavior. Such harm could also arise from negative public opinion or political conditions arising from our association with third parties in any number of activities or circumstances. Negative perceptions or publicity, whether or not true, may result in harm to our prospects. In addition, the failure to deliver satisfactory service and quality performance, on time and within budget, in one line of business could cause clients to terminate the services we provide to those clients in many other lines of business. This risk has increased as the Company has become larger and more complex and as we take on increasingly complicated projects for our clients (such as complex outsourcing engagements and technology solutions development/implementation projects that require a significant amount of dedicated personnel resources and expenses).

In addition, as part of providing services to clients and managing our business, we rely on a number of third-party service providers. Our ability to perform effectively depends in part on the ability of these service providers to meet their obligations, as well as on our effective oversight of their performance. The quality of our services could suffer, or we could be required to incur unanticipated costs if our third-party service providers do not perform as expected or their services are disrupted. This could have a material adverse effect on our reputation as well as our business and results of operations.

The loss of key colleagues could damage or result in the loss of client relationships and could result in such colleagues competing against us.

Our success depends on our ability to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel, including key managers and colleagues. In addition, our success largely depends upon our colleagues’ abilities to generate business and provide quality services. In particular, our colleagues’ business relationships with our clients are a critical element of obtaining and maintaining client engagements. Labor markets have continued to tighten globally, and we have experienced intense competition and increased costs for certain types of colleagues, especially as new entrants, in insurance and reinsurance businesses (among others), expend significant resources in hiring. Also, in the past and following the announcement of the proposed Aon combination, we have lost colleagues who manage substantial client relationships or possess substantial experience or expertise; if we lose additional colleagues such as those, it could result in such colleagues competing against us. The failure to successfully attract and retain qualified personnel could materially adversely affect our ability to secure and complete engagements or could disrupt our business, which would materially adversely affect our results of operations and prospects.

Our business performance and growth plans could be negatively affected if we are not able to effectively apply technology, data and analytics to drive value for our clients through technology-based solutions or gain internal efficiencies through the effective application of technology, analytics and related tools.

Our success depends, in part, on our ability to develop and implement technology, data and analytic solutions that anticipate, lead or keep pace with rapid and continuing changes in technology both for internal operations and for maintaining industry standards and meeting client preferences. We may not be successful in anticipating or responding to these developments in a timely and cost-effective manner or in attracting and maintaining personnel with the necessary skills in this area. Additionally, our ideas may not lead to the desired internal efficiencies or be accepted in the marketplace. In addition, we may not be able to implement technology-based solutions as quickly as desired if, for example, greater resources are required than originally expected or resources are otherwise needed elsewhere. The effort to gain technological and data expertise and develop new technologies or analytic techniques in our business requires us to incur significant cost and attract qualified technical talent who are in high demand. Our competitors are seeking to develop competing or new technologies, and their success in this space may impact our ability to differentiate our services to our clients through the use of unique technological solutions. In certain cases, we may decide, based on perceived business needs, to make investments that may be greater than we currently anticipate. If we cannot offer new technologies or data and analytic services or solutions as quickly or effectively as our competitors, or if our competitors develop more cost-effective technologies or analytic tools, it could have a material adverse effect on our ability to obtain and complete client engagements.

Our business may be harmed by any negative developments that may occur in the insurance industry or if we fail to maintain good relationships with insurance carriers.

Many of our businesses are heavily dependent on the insurance industry. Any negative developments that occur in the insurance industry may have a material adverse effect on our business and our results of operations. In addition, if we fail to maintain good relationships with insurance carriers, it may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

The private health insurance industry in the U.S. has experienced a substantial amount of consolidation over the past several years, resulting in a decrease in the number of insurance carriers. In the future, it may become necessary for us to offer insurance plans from a reduced number of insurance carriers or to derive a greater portion of our revenue from a more concentrated number of carriers as our business and the health insurance industry continue to evolve. The termination, amendment or consolidation of our relationships with our insurance carriers could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Legal, Non-Financial/Tax Regulatory and Compliance Risks

Our inability to comply with complex and evolving laws and regulations related to data privacy and cyber security could result in material financial loss, regulatory actions, reputational harm or legal liability.

We are subject to numerous laws and regulations in the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions, only certain of which are named here, designed to protect the personally identifiable information of client and company constituents and suppliers, notably the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’) and the California Consumer Privacy Act and its implementing regulations (‘CCPA’). We are also subject to regulations from other countries that prohibit or restrict the transmission of data outside of such countries’ borders, and to various U.S. federal and state laws governing the protection of health, financial or other individually identifiable information. The GDPR, which became effective in May 2018, as well as other more recently-enacted privacy laws, significantly increased our responsibilities when handling personal data including, without limitation, requiring us to conduct privacy impact assessments, restricting the transmission of data, and requiring public disclosure of significant data breaches. Violations of the GDPR may result in possible fines of up to 4% of global annual turnover for the preceding financial year or €20 million (whichever is higher). A recent judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union on Schrems II has made cross border data transfers to

organizations outside the European Economic Area more onerous and uncertain, pending definitive guidance by European Union authorities. Further, as a result of the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union (‘Brexit’), the data transfer regime between the UK and the European Economic Area is governed by the EU-U.K Trade and Cooperation Agreement. While this agreement provides an interim data transfer regime that replicates the European Union’s existing rules, there is still some uncertainty regarding applicable laws and regulations once the interim arrangement ends on May 1, 2021 or July 1, 2021, if extended.The Company is also subject to numerous U.S. and foreign marketing and telecommunications laws and regulations designed to protect consumers from unwanted or fraudulent communications. A violation of any such law may lead tolitigation or regulatory liability, including substantial financial damages or fines.

Laws and regulations in this area are evolving and generally becoming more stringent, including, without limitation, the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (‘HIPAA’), enforced by the Office for Civil Rights within the Department of Health and Human Services, and the New York State Department of Financial Services’ cybersecurity regulations outlining required security measures for the protection of data. Certain U.S. states have also recently enacted laws requiring certain data security and privacy measures of regulated entities, notably the CCPA. We expect that both other U.S. states and other countries will follow in implementing their own data privacy and data security laws. For example, Brazil recently enacted the Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais, a national data protection law modeled on the GDPR. The People’s Republic of China and India, among other countries, are also expected to enact data protection laws that could, among other things, restrict data transfers out of each of those countries.

Each of these evolving laws and regulations, in the United States and abroad, as well as laws applicable to the Company that are not named here, may be subject to evolving and conflicting interpretations, restrict the manner in which we provide services to our clients, divert resources from other important initiatives, increase the risk of non-compliance, impose significant compliance and other costs that are likely to increase over time, and increase the risk of fines, lawsuits or other potential liability, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Our failure to adhere to or successfully develop processes in response to legal or regulatory requirements, including legal or regulatory requirements that may be developed or revised due to economic or geopolitical changes such as Brexit, and changing customer expectations in this area, could result in substantial legal liability and impairment to our reputation or business.

In conducting our businesses around the world, we are subject to political, economic, legal, regulatory, cultural, market, operational and other risks that are inherent in operating in many countries.

In conducting our businesses and maintaining and supporting our global operations, we are subject to political, economic, legal, regulatory, market, operational and other risks. Our businesses and operations continue to expand into new regions throughout the world, including emerging markets. The possible effects of political, economic, financial and climate change related disruptions throughout the world could have an adverse impact on our businesses and financial results. These risks include:

Sanctions imposed by governments, or changes to such sanction regulations, could have a material adverse impact on our operations or financial results.

As described above, our businesses are subject to the risk of sanctions imposed by the U.S., the E.U., the U.K. and other governments. In 2020, there was an increase in U.S. designations in locations such as China, Russia and Venezuela. In recent years, there has also been an increased risk of counter-sanctions in some locations, such as Russia. In addition, the U.K. government is expected to bring in a new U.K. sanctions regime following Brexit under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (although it is expected that the new U.K. sanctions regulations will replicate the E.U. regulations through statutory instruments without significant changes). Nevertheless, it is not yet clear whether and how these sanctions or potential sanctions may impact our business. As a result, we cannot predict the impacts of any changes in the U.S., E.U., U.K. or other sanctions, and whether such changes could have a material adverse impact on our operations or financial results.

Our business will be negatively affected if we are not able to anticipate and keep pace with rapid changes in government laws or regulations, or if government laws or regulations decrease the need for our services or increase our costs.

A material portion of our revenue is affected by statutory or regulatory changes. An example of a statutory or regulatory change that could materially impact us is any change to the U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (‘PPACA’), and the Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, (‘HCERA’), which we refer to collectively as ‘Healthcare Reform’. While the U.S. Congress has not passed legislation replacing or fundamentally amending Healthcare Reform (other than changes to the individual mandate), such legislation, or another version of Healthcare Reform, could be implemented in the future. In addition, some U.S. political candidates and representatives elected to office in the recent election have expressed a desire to amend all or a portion of Healthcare Reform or otherwise establish alternatives to employer-sponsored health insurance or replace it with government-sponsored health insurance, often referred to as ‘Medicare for All’. Furthermore, various aspects of Healthcare Reform have been challenged in the judicial system with some success. The status of some of those challenges are in flux but could materially change U.S. healthcare. If we are unable to adapt our services to potential new laws and regulations, or judicial modifications, with respect to Healthcare Reform or otherwise, our ability to provide effective services in these areas may be substantially impacted. In addition, more restrictive rules or interpretations of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services marketing rules, or judicial decisions that restrict or otherwise change existing provisions of U.S. healthcare regulation, could have a material adverse impact on our Benefits Delivery and Administration business, including our recently acquired TRANZACT business, which focuses on direct-to-consumer Medicare policy sales. As we implement and expand our direct-to-consumer sales and marketing solutions through our Benefits Delivery and Administration business, we are subject to various federal and state laws and regulations that prescribe when and how we may market to consumers (including, without limitation, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and other telemarketing laws and the Medicare Communications and Marketing Guidelines issued by the Center for Medicare Services of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service). Changes to these laws could negatively affect our ability to market directly to consumers or increase our costs or liabilities.

Many other areas in which we provide services are the subject of government regulation, which is constantly evolving. For example, our activities in connection with insurance brokerage services are subject to regulation and supervision by national, state or other authorities. Insurance laws in the markets in which we operate are often complex and generally grant broad discretion to supervisory authorities in adopting regulations and supervising regulated activities. That supervision generally includes the licensing of insurance brokers and agents and the regulation of the handling and investment of client funds held in a fiduciary capacity. Our continuing ability to provide insurance brokerage in the markets in which we currently operate is dependent upon our compliance with the rules and regulations promulgated from time to time by the regulatory authorities in each of these locations.

Changes in government and accounting regulations in the U.S. and the U.K., two of our principal geographic markets, affecting the value, use or delivery of benefits and human capital programs, may materially adversely affect the demand for, or the profitability of, our various services. In addition, we have significant operations throughout the world, which further subject us to applicable laws and regulations of countries outside the U.S. and the U.K. Changes in legislation or regulations and actions by regulators in particular countries, including changes in administration and enforcement policies, could require operational improvements or modifications, which may result in higher costs or hinder our ability to operate our business in those countries.

Our compliance systems and controls cannot guarantee that we comply with all applicable federal and state or foreign laws and regulations, and actions by regulatory authorities or changes in applicable laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate could have an adverse effect on our business.

Our activities are subject to extensive regulation under the laws of the U.S., the U.K., the E.U. and its member states, and the other jurisdictions around the world in which we operate. In addition, we own an interest in a number of associates and companies where we do not exercise management control. Over the last few years, regulators across the world are increasingly seeking to regulate brokers who operate in their jurisdictions. The foreign and U.S. laws and regulations applicable to our operations are complex, continually evolving and may increase the costs of regulatory compliance, limit or restrict the products or services we sell or subject our business

to the possibility of regulatory actions or proceedings. These laws and regulations include insurance and financial industry regulations, antitrust and competition laws, economic and trade sanctions laws relating to countries in which certain subsidiaries do business or may do business (‘Sanctioned Jurisdictions’) such as Crimea, Cuba, Iran, Russia, Sudan, Syria and Venezuela, anti-corruption laws such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010 and similar local laws prohibiting corrupt payments to governmental officials and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance provisions of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act in the U.S., as well as laws and regulations related to data privacy, cyber security and telemarketing. Because of changes in regulation and company practice, our non-U.S. subsidiaries are providing more services with connections to various countries, including some Sanctioned Jurisdictions, that our U.S. subsidiaries are unable to perform.

In most jurisdictions, governmental and regulatory authorities have the ability to interpret and amend these laws and regulations and impose penalties for non-compliance, including sanctions, civil remedies, monetary fines, injunctions, revocation of licenses or approvals, suspension of individuals, limitations on business activities or redress to clients. While we believe that we have substantially increased our focus on the geographic breadth of regulations to which we are subject, maintain good relationships with our key regulators and our current systems and controls are adequate, we cannot assure that such systems and controls will prevent any violations of any applicable laws and regulations. While we strive to remain fully compliant with all applicable laws and regulations, we cannot guarantee that we will fully comply at all times with all laws and regulations, especially in countries with developing or evolving legal systems or with evolving or extra-territorial regulations. In particular, given the challenges of integrating operations, many of which are decentralized, we cannot assure that acquired or decentralized entities’ business systems and controls have prevented or will prevent any and all violations of applicable laws or regulations.  

Changes and developments in the health insurance system in the United States could harm our business.

In 2010, the Federal government enacted significant reforms to healthcare legislation through Healthcare Reform. Many of our lines of business depend upon the private sector of the U.S. insurance system, its role in financing health care delivery, and insurance carriers’ use of, and payment of commissions to, agents, brokers and other organizations to market and sell individual and family health insurance plans. Healthcare Reform contains provisions that have changed and will continue to change the industry in which we operate in substantial ways. Any changes to the roles of the private and public sectors in the health insurance system could also substantially change the industry.

Certain key members of Congress have expressed a desire to replace or amend all or a portion of Healthcare Reform. In addition, various aspects of Healthcare Reform have been challenged in the judicial system with some success. Any partial or complete repeal or amendment, judicial modifications or implementation difficulties, or uncertainty regarding such events, could increase our costs of compliance, prevent or delay future adoption or revisions to our exchange platform, and adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition. In addition, other members of Congress have otherwise expressed a desire to establish alternatives to employer-sponsored health insurance or replace it with government-sponsored health insurance, often referred to as ‘Medicare for All’. Given the uncertainties relating to the potential repeal and replacement of Healthcare Reform or other alternative proposals related to health insurance plans (especially from the new Presidential administration), the impact is difficult to determine, but it could have material negative effects on us, including:

Any of these effects could materially harm our business and results of operations. For example, the manner in which the Federal government and the states implement health insurance exchanges and the process for receiving subsidies and cost-sharing credits could substantially increase our competition and member turnover and substantially reduce the number of individuals who purchase insurance through us. Various aspects of Healthcare Reform could cause insurance carriers to limit the types of health insurance plans we are able to sell and the geographies in which we are able to sell them. In addition, the U.S. Congress may seek to find spending cuts, and such cuts may include Medicare. If cuts are made to Medicare, there may be substantial changes in the types of health insurance plans we are able to sell, especially through our recently acquired TRANZACT business, which focuses on direct-to-consumer Medicare policy sales. Changes in the law could also cause insurance carriers to exit the business of selling insurance plans

in a particular jurisdiction, to eliminate certain categories of products or to attempt to move members into new plans for which we receive lower commissions. If insurance carriers decide to limit our ability to sell their plans or determine not to sell individual health insurance plans altogether, our business, results of operations and financial condition would be materially harmed.

Limited protection of our intellectual property could harm our business and our ability to compete effectively, and we face the risk that our services or products may infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others.

We cannot guarantee that trade secret, trademark and copyright law protections, or our internal policies and procedures regarding our management of intellectual property, are adequate to deter misappropriation of our intellectual property (including our software, which may become an increasingly important part of our business). Existing laws of some countries in which we provide services or products may offer only limited protection of our intellectual property rights. Also, we may be unable to detect the unauthorized use of our intellectual property and take the necessary steps to enforce our rights, which may have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations. We cannot be sure that our services and products, or the products of others that we offer to our clients, do not infringe on the intellectual property rights of third parties, and we may have infringement claims asserted against us or our clients. These claims may harm our reputation, result in financial liability, consume financial resources to pursue or defend, and prevent us from offering some services or products. In addition, these claims, whether with or without merit, could be expensive, take significant time and divert management’s focus and resources from business operations. Successful challenges against us could require us to modify or discontinue our use of technology or business processes where such use is found to infringe or violate the rights of others, or require us to purchase licenses from third parties, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

The laws of Ireland differ from the laws in effect in the United States and may afford less protection to holders of our securities.

It may not be possible to enforce court judgments obtained in the U.S. against us in Ireland, based on the civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal or state securities laws. In addition, there is some uncertainty as to whether the courts of Ireland would recognize or enforce judgments of U.S. courts obtained against us or our directors or officers based on the civil liabilities provisions of the U.S. federal or state securities laws or hear actions against us or those persons based on those laws. We have been advised that the U.S. currently does not have a treaty with Ireland providing for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters. Therefore, a final judgment for the payment of money rendered by any U.S. federal or state court based on civil liability, whether or not based solely on U.S. federal or state securities laws, would not automatically be enforceable in Ireland.

As an Irish company, we are governed by the Irish Companies Act, which differs in some material respects from laws generally applicable to U.S. corporations and shareholders, including, among others, differences relating to interested director and officer transactions and shareholder lawsuits. Likewise, the duties of directors and officers of an Irish company generally are owed to the company only. Shareholders of Irish companies generally do not have a personal right of action against directors or officers of the company and may exercise such rights of action on behalf of the company only in limited circumstances. Accordingly, holders of our securities may have more difficulty protecting their interests than would holders of securities of a corporation incorporated in a jurisdiction of the United States.

Financial and Related Regulatory, Including Tax, Risks

We have material pension liabilities that can fluctuate significantly and adversely affect our financial position or net income or result in other financial impacts.

We have material pension liabilities, some of which represent unfunded and underfunded pension and postretirement liabilities. Movements in the interest rate environment, investment returns, inflation or changes in other assumptions that are used to estimate our benefit obligations and other factors could have a material effect on the level of liabilities in these plans at any given time. Most pension plans have minimum funding requirements that may require material amounts of periodic additional funding and accounting requirements that may result in increased pension expense. For example, in 2018 we were required to recognize a £31 million ($40 million) pension settlement expense related to the accelerated recognition of certain accumulated losses in one of our U.K. pension schemes following the transfer out of assets of certain plan participants. Depending on the above factors, among others, we could be required to recognize further pension expense in the future. Increased pension expense could adversely affect our earnings or cause earnings volatility. In addition, the need to make additional cash contributions may reduce our financial flexibility and increase liquidity risk by reducing the cash available to meet our other obligations, including the payment obligations under our credit facilities and other long-term debt, or other needs of our business.

Our outstanding debt could adversely affect our cash flows and financial flexibility, and we may not be able to obtain financing on favorable terms or at all.

Willis Towers Watson had total consolidated debt outstanding of approximately $5.6 billion as of December 31, 2020, and our interest expense was $244 million for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Although management believes that our cash flows will be sufficient to service this debt, there may be circumstances in which required payments of principal and/or interest on this debt could adversely affect our cash flows and this level of indebtedness may:

The terms of our current financings also include certain limitations. For example, the agreements relating to the debt arrangements and credit facilities contain numerous operating and financial covenants, including requirements to maintain minimum ratios of consolidated EBITDA to consolidated cash interest expense and maximum levels of consolidated funded indebtedness in relation to consolidated EBITDA, in each case subject to certain adjustments. The operating restrictions and financial covenants in our credit facilities do, and any future financing agreements may, limit our ability to finance future operations or capital needs or to engage in other business activities.

A failure to comply with the restrictions under our credit facilities and outstanding notes could result in a default or a cross-default under the financing obligations or could require us to obtain waivers from our lenders for failure to comply with these restrictions. The occurrence of a default that is not cured, or the inability to secure a necessary consent or waiver, could cause our obligations with respect to our debt to be accelerated and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

The maintenance and growth of our business depends on our access to capital, which will depend in large part on cash flow generated by our business and the availability of equity and debt financing. Also, we could be at risk to rising interest rates in the future to the extent that we borrow at floating rates under our existing borrowing agreements or refinance existing debt at higher rates. There can be no assurance that our operations will generate sufficient positive cash flow to finance all of our capital needs or that we will be able to obtain equity or debt financing on favorable terms or at all, which could have a material adverse effect on us.

A downgrade to our corporate credit rating and the credit ratings of our outstanding debt may adversely affect our borrowing costs and financial flexibility and, under certain circumstances, may require us to offer to buy back some of our outstanding debt.

A downgrade in our corporate credit rating or the credit ratings of our debt would increase our borrowing costs including those under our credit facilities and reduce our financial flexibility. If we need to raise capital in the future, any credit rating downgrade could negatively affect our financing costs or access to financing sources.

In addition, under the indenture for our 3.600% senior notes due 2024, our 4.625% senior notes due 2023, our 6.125% senior notes due 2043, our 3.500% senior notes due 2021, our 4.400% senior notes due 2026, our 2.125% senior notes due 2022, our 4.500% senior notes due 2028, our 5.050% senior notes due 2048, our 2.950% senior notes due 2029, and our 3.875% senior notes due 2049, if we experience a ratings decline together with a change of control event, we would be required to offer to purchase these notes from holders unless we had previously redeemed those notes. We may not have sufficient funds available or access to funding to repurchase tendered notes in that event, which could result in a default under the notes. Any future debt that we incur may contain covenants regarding repurchases in the event of a change of control triggering event.

If a U.S. person is treated as owning at least 10% of our shares, such a holder may be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences.

As a result of U.S. Tax Reform, many of our non-U.S. subsidiaries are now classified as ‘controlled foreign corporations’ (‘CFCs’) for U.S. federal income tax purposes due to the expanded application of certain ownership attribution rules within a multinational corporate group. If a U.S. person is treated as owning (directly, indirectly or constructively) at least 10% of the value or voting power of our shares, such a person may be treated as a U.S. shareholder with respect to one or more of our CFC subsidiaries. In addition, if our shares are treated as owned more than 50% by U.S. shareholders, we would be treated as a CFC. A U.S. shareholder of a CFC may be required to annually report and include in its U.S. taxable income, as ordinary income, its pro-rata share of Subpart F income,

global intangible low-taxed income, and investments in U.S. property by CFCs, whether or not we make any distributions to such U.S. shareholder. An individual U.S. shareholder generally would not be allowed certain tax deductions or foreign tax credits that would be allowed to a corporate U.S. shareholder with respect to a CFC. A failure by a U.S. shareholder to comply with its reporting obligations may subject the U.S. shareholder to significant monetary penalties and may extend the statute of limitations with respect to the U.S. shareholder’s U.S. federal income tax return for the year for which such reporting was due. We cannot provide any assurances that we will assist investors in determining whether we or any of our non-U.S. subsidiaries are CFCs or whether any investor is a U.S. shareholder with respect to any such CFCs. We also cannot guarantee that we will furnish to U.S. shareholders any or all of the information that may be necessary for them to comply with the aforementioned obligations. U.S. investors should consult their own advisors regarding the potential application of these rules to their investments in us.

Legislative or regulatory action in the U.S. or abroad could materially adversely affect our ability to maintain a competitive worldwide effective corporate tax rate.

We cannot give any assurance as to what our effective tax rate will be in the future, because of, among other things, uncertainty regarding the tax policies of the jurisdictions where we operate. Our actual effective tax rate may vary from expectations and that variance may be material. Additionally, the tax laws of Ireland and other jurisdictions could change in the future, and such changes could cause a material change in our effective tax rate.

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted comprehensive tax reform legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the ‘U.S. Tax Reform’), which generally became effective on January 1, 2018. The U.S. Tax Reform included numerous changes to existing tax law, including a permanent reduction in the federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%. Among other things, U.S. Tax Reform could cause us to lose the benefit of certain tax credits and deductions, limit our ability to deduct interest incurred in the U.S. and potentially increase our income taxes due to the base erosion and anti-abuse tax (‘BEAT’). The U.S. Treasury Department has issued a number of proposed regulations clarifying some of the provisions of the U.S. Tax Reform, many of which are still ongoing. We will continue to evaluate the overall impact of U.S. Tax Reform and related regulations on our operations and tax position over the next twelve months. The U.S. Tax Reform could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.

Further, the new Presidential administration may propose and implement significant changes to the U.S. tax policies and legislative action may be taken by the U.S. Congress which, if ultimately enacted, could limit the availability of tax benefits or deductions that we currently claim, override tax treaties upon which we rely, or otherwise affect the taxes that the U.S. imposes on our worldwide operations. Regulations or administrative guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department that are currently proposed or newly issued in the future could have similar consequences. Such changes could materially adversely affect our effective tax rate and/or require us to take further action, at potentially significant additional expense, to seek to preserve our effective tax rate. In addition, if proposals were enacted that have the effect of limiting our ability as an Irish company to take advantage of tax treaties with the U.S., we could incur additional tax expense and/or otherwise experience business detriment.

In addition, the U.S. Congress, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (‘OECD’), the World Trade Organization and other government agencies in non-U.S. jurisdictions where we and our affiliates do business have had an extended focus on issues related to the taxation of multinational corporations. One example is in the area of base erosion and profit shifting, where payments are made between affiliates from a jurisdiction with high tax rates to a jurisdiction with lower tax rates. In October 2015, the OECD released final reports addressing fifteen specific actions as part of a comprehensive plan to create an agreed set of international rules for fighting base erosion and profit shifting. Although the timing and methods of implementation vary, several jurisdictions have enacted legislation that is aligned with, and in some cases exceeds the scope of, the OECD’s recommendations. As a result, the tax laws in the U.S., Ireland, and other countries in which we and our affiliates do business could change on a prospective or retroactive basis, and any such changes could adversely affect us and our affiliates.

Our significant non-U.S. operations, particularly our London market operations, expose us to exchange rate fluctuations and various other risks that could impact our business.

A significant portion of our operations is conducted outside of the U.S. Accordingly, we are subject to legal, economic and market risks associated with operating in foreign countries, including devaluations and fluctuations in currency exchange rates; imposition of limitations on conversion of foreign currencies into Pounds sterling or U.S. dollars or remittance of dividends and other payments by foreign subsidiaries; hyperinflation in certain foreign countries; imposition or increase of investment and other restrictions by foreign governments; and the requirement of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws. Additionally, and as noted above, the unknown impacts of Brexit may expose us to additional exchange rate fluctuations in the Pounds sterling.

We report our operating results and financial condition in U.S. dollars. Our U.S. operations earn revenue and incur expenses primarily in U.S. dollars. In our London market operations however, we earn revenue in a number of different currencies, but expenses are

almost entirely incurred in Pounds sterling. Outside of the U.S. and our London market operations, we predominantly generate revenue and expenses in local currencies.

Because of devaluations and fluctuations in currency exchange rates or the imposition of limitations on conversion of foreign currencies into U.S. dollars, we are subject to currency translation exposure on the profits of our operations, in addition to economic exposure. Furthermore, the mismatch between Pounds sterling revenue and expenses, together with any net Pounds sterling balance sheet position we hold in our U.S. dollar-denominated London market operations, creates an exchange exposure. While we do utilize hedging strategies to attempt to reduce the impact of foreign currency fluctuations, there can be no assurance that our hedging strategies will be effective.

Changes in accounting principles or in our accounting estimates and assumptions could negatively affect our financial position and results of operations.

We prepare our financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Any change to accounting principles, particularly to U.S. GAAP, could have a material adverse effect on us or our results of operations.

U.S. GAAP accounting principles require us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of our financial statements. We are also required to make certain judgments that affect the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during each reporting period. We periodically evaluate our estimates and assumptions, including those relating to revenue recognition, valuation of billed and unbilled receivables from clients, discretionary compensation, incurred-but-not-reported liabilities, restructuring, pensions, goodwill and other intangible assets, contingencies, share-based payments and income taxes. We base our estimates on historical experience and various assumptions that we believe to be reasonable based on specific circumstances. Actual results could differ from these estimates, and changes in accounting standards could have an adverse impact on our future financial position and results of operations.

In addition, we have a substantial amount of goodwill on our consolidated balance sheet as a result of acquisitions we have completed, and we significantly increased goodwill as a result of the Merger. We review goodwill for impairment annually or whenever events or circumstances indicate impairment may have occurred. Application of the impairment test requires judgment, including the identification of reporting units, assignment of assets, liabilities and goodwill to reporting units and the determination of the fair value of each reporting unit. A significant deterioration in a key estimate or assumption or a less significant deterioration to a combination of assumptions, or the sale of a part of a reporting unit, could result in an impairment charge in the future, which could have a significant adverse impact on our reported earnings.

Our quarterly revenue and cash flow could fluctuate, including as a result of factors outside of our control, while our expenses may remain relatively fixed or be higher than expected.

Quarterly variations in our revenue, cash flow and results of operations have occurred in the past and could occur as a result of a number of factors, such as: the significance of client engagements commenced and completed during a quarter; seasonality of certain types of services; the number of business days in a quarter; colleague hiring and utilization rates; our clients’ ability to terminate engagements without penalty; the size and scope of assignments; our ability to enhance our billing, collection and working capital management efforts and general economic conditions.

We derive significant revenue from commissions for brokerage services, but do not determine the insurance premiums on which our commissions are generally based. Commission levels generally follow the same trend as premium levels, as they are a percentage of the premiums paid by the insureds. Fluctuations in the premiums charged by the insurance carriers can therefore have a direct and potentially material impact on our results of operations. Due to the cyclical nature of the insurance market and the impact of other market conditions on insurance premiums, commission levels may vary widely between accounting periods. A period of low or declining premium rates, generally known as a ‘soft’ or ‘softening’ market, generally leads to downward pressure on commission revenue and can have a material adverse impact on our commission revenue and operating margin. We could be negatively impacted by soft market conditions across certain sectors and geographic regions. In addition, insurance carriers may seek to reduce their expenses by reducing the commission rates payable to insurance agents or brokers such as us. The reduction of these commission rates, along with general volatility and/or declines in premiums, may significantly undermine our profitability.

A sizeable portion of our total operating expenses is relatively fixed or may even be higher than expected, encompassing the majority of administrative, occupancy, communications and other expenses, depreciation and amortization, and salaries and employee benefits excluding fiscal year-end incentive bonuses. Therefore, a variation in the number of client assignments and collection of accounts receivable, or in the timing of the initiation or the completion of client assignments, or our inability to forecast demand, can cause significant variations in quarterly operating results and could result in losses and volatility in our stock price.

It is unclear how increased regulatory oversight and changes in the method for determining the London Interbank Offered Rate (‘LIBOR’) may affect the value of the financial obligations to be held or issued by us that are linked to LIBOR, or how such changes could affect our results of operations or financial condition.

In the recent past, concerns have been publicized regarding the calculation of LIBOR, the London interbank offered rate, which present risks for the financial instruments that use LIBOR as a reference rate. LIBOR is the basic rate of interest used in lending between banks on the London interbank market and is widely used as a reference for setting the interest rate on loans globally.

Accordingly, uncertainty as to the nature of such changes may affect the market for or pricing of any LIBOR-linked securities, loans, derivatives and other financial obligations or extensions of credit held by or due to us or on our overall financial condition or results of operations. In addition, any further changes or reforms to the determination or supervision of LIBOR may result in a sudden or prolonged increase or decrease in reported LIBOR, which could have an impact on the market for or pricing of any LIBOR-linked securities, loans, derivatives and other financial obligations or extensions of credit held by or due to us, including our revolving credit facility, or on our overall financial condition or results of operations. For example, on July 27, 2017, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates LIBOR, announced that it intends to stop persuading or compelling banks to submit LIBOR rates after 2021. Currently, there is not an agreement on what rate or rates may become accepted alternatives to LIBOR; however, the Alternative Reference Rate Committee in the U.S., comprised of a group of large banks and other financial institutions, selected the Secured Overnight Finance Rate (‘SOFR’), as an alternative to LIBOR. In May 2018, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York began to publish the alternative rate. SOFR is a broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight collateralized by Treasury securities. Furthermore, as of April 23, 2018, the Bank of England has commenced publication of a reformed Sterling Overnight Index Average (‘SONIA’), comprised of a broader set of overnight Sterling money market transactions. The SONIA has been recommended as the alternative to Sterling LIBOR by the U.K. Working Group on Sterling Risk-Free Reference Rates. At this time, it is not possible to predict whether and how these alternative reference rates will become accepted alternatives to LIBOR or any other reforms to LIBOR that may be enacted.

We are a holding company and, therefore, may not be able to receive dividends or other distributions in needed amounts from our subsidiaries.

The Company is organized as a holding company, a legal entity separate and distinct from our operating subsidiaries. As a holding company without significant operations of our own, we are dependent upon dividends and other payments from our operating subsidiaries to meet our obligations for paying principal and interest on outstanding debt obligations, for paying dividends to shareholders, for repurchasing shares of common stock and for corporate expenses. Legal and regulatory restrictions, foreign exchange controls, as well as operating requirements of our subsidiaries, may limit our ability to obtain cash from these subsidiaries. For example, Willis Limited, our U.K. brokerage subsidiary regulated by the FCA, is currently required to maintain $140 million in unencumbered and available financial resources, of which at least $51 million must be in cash, for regulatory purposes. In the event our operating subsidiaries are unable to pay dividends and other payments to the Company, we may not be able to service debt, pay obligations or pay dividends on, or repurchase shares of, common stock.

In the event we are unable to generate cash from our operating subsidiaries for any of the reasons discussed above, our overall liquidity could deteriorate.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

We operate offices in many countries throughout the world and believe that our properties are generally suitable and adequate for the purposes for which they are used. The principal properties are located in the United States and the United Kingdom. In addition, we have other offices in various locations, including among others, Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Operations of each of our segments are carried out in owned or leased offices under operating leases that typically do not exceed 10 years in length except for certain properties in key locations. We do not anticipate difficulty in meeting our space needs at lease expiration.

The fixed assets owned by us represented approximately 3% of total assets as of December 31, 2020 and consisted primarily of furniture and equipment, leasehold improvements, computer software, internally-developed software and land and buildings.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS  

From time to time, we are party to various lawsuits, arbitrations or mediations that arise in the ordinary course of business. The disclosure called for by Item 3 regarding our legal proceedings is incorporated by reference herein from Note 14 — Commitments and Contingencies, within Item 8 in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

PART II.

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Share Data

Our ordinary shares began trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol ‘WLTW’ on January 5, 2016. As of February 18, 2021, there were 1,165 shareholders of record of our shares.

Dividends

We normally pay dividends on a quarterly basis to shareholders of record on March 31, June 30, September 30 and December 31. In February 2021, the board of directors is expected to approve a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.71 per common share. The dividend is expected to be payable on or about April 15, 2021 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 31, 2021.

There are no governmental laws, decrees or regulations in Ireland that restrict the remittance of dividends or other payments to non-resident holders of the Company’s shares.

In circumstances where one of Ireland’s many exemptions from dividend withholding tax (‘DWT’) does not apply, dividends paid by the Company will be subject to Irish DWT (currently 20 percent). Residents of the United States should be exempt from Irish DWT provided relevant documentation supporting the exemption has been put in place. While the U.S.-Ireland Double Tax Treaty contains provisions reducing the rate of Irish DWT in prescribed circumstances, it should generally be unnecessary for U.S. residents to rely on the provisions of this treaty due to the wide scope of exemptions from Irish DWT available under Irish domestic law. Irish income tax may also arise in respect of dividends paid by the Company. However, U.S. residents entitled to an exemption from Irish DWT generally have no Irish income tax liability on dividends.

With respect to non-corporate U.S. shareholders, certain dividends from a qualified foreign corporation may be subject to reduced rates of taxation. A foreign corporation is treated as a qualified foreign corporation with respect to dividends received from that corporation on shares that are readily tradeable on an established securities market in the United States, such as our shares. Non-corporate U.S. shareholders that do not meet a minimum holding period requirement for our shares during which they are not protected from the risk of loss or that elect to treat the dividend income as investment income pursuant to section 163(d)(4) of the Code will not be eligible for the reduced rates of taxation regardless of our status as a qualified foreign corporation. In addition, the rate reduction will not apply to dividends if the recipient of a dividend is obligated to make related payments with respect to positions in substantially similar or related property. This disallowance applies even if the minimum holding period has been met. U.S. shareholders should consult their own tax advisors regarding the application of these rules given their particular circumstances.

Total Shareholder Return

The graph below depicts cumulative total shareholder returns for Willis Towers Watson for the period from January 5, 2016 through December 31, 2020.

The graph also depicts the total return for the S&P 500 and for a peer group for Willis Towers Watson comprised of Accenture plc, Aon plc, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., Brown & Brown Inc., Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. and Robert Half International Inc. The graph charts the performance of $100 invested on the initial date indicated, January 5, 2016, assuming full dividend reinvestment.

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

During the year ended December 31, 2020 no shares were issued by the Company without registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

The Company is authorized to repurchase shares, by way of redemption, and will consider whether to do so from time to time, based on many factors, including market conditions. Since April 20, 2016, when the Willis Towers Watson board reconfirmed, reapproved and reauthorized the remaining $529 million portion of the Legacy Willis program to repurchase the Company’s ordinary shares on the open market or by way of redemption or otherwise, the following additional authorizations have occurred:

There are no expiration dates for these repurchase plans or programs. With regard to certain prohibitions under the transaction agreement in connection with our pending business combination with Aon, during the year ended December 31, 2020, there was no share repurchase activity.

At December 31, 2020, the maximum number of shares that may be purchased under the existing stock repurchase program is 2,373,268, with approximately $500 million remaining on the current open-ended repurchase authority granted by the board. An estimate of the maximum number of shares under the existing authorities was determined using the closing price of our ordinary shares on December 31, 2020 of $210.68.

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

For information on our securities authorized for issuance under our existing equity compensation plans, see ‘Securities Authorized for Issuance under Equity Compensation Plans’ in our proxy statement filed with the SEC.

ITEM 6. SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA

The Company has elected to early-adopt, as permitted under the applicable SEC rules, certain amendments to ‘Management’s Discussion and Analysis’ and the elimination of ‘Selected Financial Data’ and ‘Supplementary Financial Information’ adopted by the SEC on November 19, 2020. The final rule became effective on February 10, 2021 and must be applied in a registrant’s first fiscal year ending on or after August 9, 2021, however, early adoption is permitted following the effective date on an item-by-item basis. Based on the final rule, we have excluded Item 6 Selected Consolidated Financial Data from this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

This discussion includes forward-looking statements. See ‘Disclaimer Regarding Forward-looking Statements’ for certain cautionary information regarding forward-looking statements and ‘Risk Factors’ in Item 1A for a list of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted in those statements.

This discussion includes references to non-GAAP financial measures as defined in the rules of the SEC. We present such non-GAAP financial measures, specifically, adjusted, constant currency and organic non-GAAP financial measures, as we believe such information is of interest to the investment community because it provides additional meaningful methods of evaluating certain aspects of the Company’s operating performance from period to period on a basis that may not be otherwise apparent under U.S. GAAP, and these provide a measure against which our businesses may be assessed in the future.

Our methods of calculating these measures may differ from those used by other companies and therefore comparability may be limited. These financial measuresshould be viewed in addition to, not in lieu of, the consolidated financialstatements for the year ended December 31, 2020.

See ‘Non-GAAP Financial Measures’ below for further discussion of our adjusted, constant currency and organic non-GAAP financial measures.

Executive Overview

Market Conditions

Within our insurance and brokerage business, the cyclical nature of the insurance market and the impact of other market conditions on insurance premiums, commission revenue may vary widely between accounting periods. A period of low or declining premium rates, generally known as a ‘soft’ or ‘softening’ market, generally leads to downward pressure on commission revenue and can have a material adverse impact on our revenue and operating margin. A ‘hard’ or ‘firming’ market, during which premium rates rise, generally has a favorable impact on our revenue and operating margin. Rates, however, vary by geography, industry and client segment. As a result, and due to the global and diverse nature of our business, we view rates in the aggregate. Overall, we are currently seeing a modest but definite improvement with pricing in the market.

Market conditions in the broking industry in which we operate are generally defined by factors such as the strength of the economies in the various geographic regions in which we serve around the world, insurance rate movements, and insurance and reinsurance buying patterns of our clients.

The markets for our consulting, technology and solutions, and marketplace services are affected by economic, regulatory and legislative changes, technological developments, and increased competition from established and new competitors. We believe that the primary factors in selecting a human resources or risk management consulting firm include reputation, the ability to provide measurable increases to shareholder value and return on investment, global scale, quality of service and the ability to tailor services to clients’ unique needs. In that regard, we are focused on developing and implementing technology, data and analytic solutions for both internal operations and for maintaining industry standards and meeting client preferences. We have made such investments from time to time and may decide, based on perceived business needs, to make investments in the future that may be greater than we currently anticipate. Conversely, particularly given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we may make fewer information technology-based investments than previously anticipated, which could potentially create business operational risk.

With regard to the market for exchanges, we believe that clients base their decisions on a variety of factors that include the ability of the provider to deliver measurable cost savings for clients, a strong reputation for efficient execution and an innovative service delivery model and platform. Part of the employer-sponsored insurance market has matured and become more fragmented while other segments remain in the entry phase. As these market segments continue to evolve, we may experience growth in intervals, with periods of accelerated expansion balanced by periods of modest growth. In recent years, growth in the market for exchanges has slowed, and we expect this trend may continue.

Following the occurrence of Brexit and the end of the formal transition period on December 31, 2020, a trade agreement has been established between the U.K. and E.U. As expected, the agreement largely addresses goods and not services, and the Company has therefore completed the establishment of appropriate arrangements for the continued servicing of client business in all relevant E.U. countries. It is anticipated that further negotiations will ensue between the U.K. and E.U. in order to address matters related to services, including financial services, though the outcome of such discussions and potential impact on the Company are not yet known. For a further discussion of the risks of Brexit to the Company, see Part I, Item 1A Risk Factors within this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Typically, our business benefits from regulatory change, political risk or economic uncertainty. Insurance broking generally tracks the economy, but demand for both insurance broking and consulting services usually remains steady during times of uncertainty. We have some businesses, such as our health and benefits and administration businesses, which can be counter cyclical during the early period of a significant economic change.

Although approximately 21% of our revenue is generated in the U.K. on an annual basis, about 12% of revenue is denominated in Pounds sterling, as much of the insurance business is transacted in U.S. dollars. Approximately 20% of our expenses is denominated in Pounds sterling, thus we generally benefit from a weakening Pound sterling in our income from operations. However, we have a Company hedging strategy for this aspect of our business, which is designed to mitigate significant fluctuations in currency.

See Part I, Item 1A Risk Factors in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for discussions of risks that may affect our ability to compete.

Proposed Combination with Aon plc

On March 9, 2020, the Company and Aon issued an announcement disclosing that they had signed a business combination agreement, pursuant to which the Company will be acquired by Aon. The transaction remains subject to various customary closing conditions, including required antitrust and other regulatory approvals. The parties expect the transaction to close in the first half of 2021, subject to satisfaction of these conditions. The transaction also subjects the Company to various incremental risks, both before closing and after the transaction is potentially closed. See ‘Business – The Company’ and ‘Risk Factors – Combination-Related Risks.’

Risks and Uncertainties of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an adverse impact on global commercial activity, including the global supply chain, and has contributed to significant volatility in the global financial markets including, among other effects, occasional declines in the equity markets, changes in interest rates and reduced liquidity on a global basis. In light of the effects on our own business operations and those of our clients, suppliers and other third parties with whom we interact, the Company has regularly considered the impact of COVID-19 on our business, taking into account our business resilience and continuity plans, financial modeling and stress testing of liquidity and financial resources.

Generally, the COVID-19 pandemic did not have a material adverse impact on our overall financial results during 2020; however, during 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted our revenue growth, primarily in our businesses that are discretionary in nature. We believe such level of impact will continue through much of 2021, at least until a sufficient portion of the populations in jurisdictions where we do business have been vaccinated and social-distancing orders are lessened or lifted.

As part of the significant estimates and assumptions that are inherent in our financial statements, we have considered the impact COVID-19 will have on our client behavior and the economic environment looking forward to 2021 and throughout the geographies in which we operate. These estimates and assumptions include the collectability of billed and unbilled receivables, the estimation of revenue, and the fair value of our reporting units, tangible and intangible assets and contingent consideration. With regard to collectability of receivables, we believe we may continue to face atypical delays in client payments going forward. The demand for certain discretionary lines of business has decreased, and we believe that decrease may continue to impact our financial results in succeeding periods. Non-discretionary lines of business have also been, to some extent, adversely affected and may be adversely affected in the future. Further, reduced economic activity or disruption in insurance markets could reduce the demand for or the extent of insurance coverage. For example, we have seen instances where the reduced demand for air travel has reduced the extent of insurance coverage needed. Also, the increased frequency and severity of coverage disputes between our clients and (re)insurers arising out of the pandemic could increase our professional liability risk. We will continue to monitor the situation and assess any implications to our business and our stakeholders.

The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our business and financial position will depend on future developments, which are difficult to predict. These future developments may include the severity and scope of the COVID-19 outbreak, which may unexpectedly change or worsen, and the types and duration of measures imposed by governmental authorities to contain the virus or address its impact. We continue to expect that the COVID-19 pandemic will negatively impact our revenue and operating results in fiscal 2021. We believe that these trends and uncertainties are similar to those faced by other comparable registrants as a result of the pandemic.See also Part I, Item 1A Risk Factors for a discussion of actual and potential impacts of COVID-19 on our business, clients and operations.

Daily Operations - We continue to closely monitor the spread and impact of COVID-19 while adhering to government health directives, including the availability of vaccines. The Company continues to have restrictions on business travel, office access, meetings and events, but is actively developing its return-to-work plans with a focus on safe utilization based on appropriate social-distancing guidelines. We have thorough business continuity and incident management processes in place that have been activated, including split team operations and work-from-home protocols for essential workers which continue to be globally effective. We are communicating frequently with clients and critical vendors, while meeting our objectives via remote working capabilities, overseen

and coordinated by our incident management response team. While no contingency plan can eliminate all risk of temporary service interruption, we regularly assess and update our plans to help mitigate reasonable risks to the extent possible.

Financial Statement Overview

The tables below set forth our summarized consolidated statements of comprehensive income and data as a percentage of revenue for the periods indicated. For management’s discussion of our results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019 in comparison with the year ended December 31, 2018, please see our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 26, 2020.

Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income

($ in millions, except per share data)