Operator: Good morning and thank you for holding. Welcome to Aon plc's Second Quarter 2026 Conference Call. At this time, all parties will be in a listen-only mode until the question-and-answer portion of today's call. I would also like to remind all parties that this call is being recorded. If anyone has an objection, you may disconnect your line at any time. It is important to note that some of the comments in today's call may constitute certain statements that are forward-looking in nature. As defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or those anticipated. For information concerning these risk factors, please refer to our earnings release for this quarter and to our most recent quarterly or annual SEC filings. All of which are available on our website. Now it is my pleasure to turn the call over to Gregory C. Case, President and CEO of Aon plc.
Gregory C. Case: Thanks, Dylan, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our second quarter earnings call. I am here today with Edmund Reese, our CFO. And as always, the financial presentation, which Edmund will reference, is available on our website. Consistent execution, the strength of our Aon United strategy accelerated through the 3x3 Plan, the resilience of our business model produced second quarter and first half results in line with objectives. In addition, our investments in talent, technology, and innovative capital solutions continue to strengthen the value we deliver, expand our addressable market and drive sustainable growth. As we enter the second half of 2026, we are well positioned to deliver on our strategic and financial commitments and continue generating long-term shareholder value. My remarks today focus on three areas. First, our client demand continues to grow as organizations navigate increasingly interconnected risk and workforce challenges. Second, our organizational structure, which brings together risk capital and human capital and is supported by Aon Business Services, and our substantial investments, drive our ability to meet client demand and differentiate Aon in the marketplace. And third, how our investments are translating into strong client impact durable growth, and confidence in our ability to deliver through the cycle performance. Let's start with the external landscape. The environment facing our clients continues to evolve rapidly. Geopolitical uncertainty remains elevated, Economic growth remains uneven. Cyber threats continue to increase in frequency and sophistication. Climate-related risks continue to challenge traditional underwriting and capital allocation models. At the same time, organizations are adapting to profound workforce changes. The common thread across these developments is increasing complexity. As complexity rises, decision-making becomes more difficult and the cost of being wrong is more consequential. Clients are seeking greater clarity around risk exposure, capital allocation, and workforce strategy. They need integrated solutions and trusted partners who can help them navigate uncertainty, rather than simply react to it. This is creating growing demand for the capabilities that distinguish Aon in the marketplace. Our expansion of Aon Claims Copilot during the quarter is one example. Building on our successful launch in November, our expansion across North America Asia Pacific and EMEA, brings a substantial portion of our global claims management information onto a single technology platform. Claims Copilot, recently recognized by Business Insurance, as the innovation of the year enables delivery of a globally consistent claims experience for clients, while strengthening our ability to generate insights to inform placement negotiation, and broader risk strategies. This expansion underscores our continued investment in AI-enabled technology and innovation to help clients navigate the current environment. Importantly, Claims Copilot enhances our strong track record of claims performance. Over the past decade, we have helped clients recover more than $10 billion in financial value, from overturned denials through our advocacy. By combining that expertise with Claims Copilot, we are helping clients achieve better outcomes. The same dynamics that increase demand for our capabilities are also driving demand both within the segments where Aon is historically strong and in areas where we see opportunities to expand our addressable market. Our enterprise large and middle market clients have complex needs. They are seeking insight, advice, and execution, not just transactions. And their decisions depend on combining data analytics expertise and judgment. Organizations are increasingly seeking to new sources of capital to fund growth and managing volatility. Aon, is creating opportunities to engage with private equity firms and other capital providers helping clients access the risk-bearing capacity necessary to support their strategic objectives. The opportunities we see today are the result of deliberate decisions we have made over the years. Aon United remains at the center of our strategy and underpins our competitive advantage. The concept is simple. Yet powerful. By bringing together expertise across risk capital and human capital, we create more value for clients, expand access to capital, and drive growth. Aon Business Services is foundational to this strategy. And over the last several years, we have accelerated investment to improve our ability to diagnose risk access capital, deliver better outcomes for clients. Our advantage has never been rooted in technology alone. It always comes from combining deep expertise trusted relationships, and proprietary insights to help clients navigate important decisions. And that is particularly evident in areas where we develop substantial proprietary data and expertise. Within Talent Solutions, for example, we are helping clients understand how AI will reshape workforce strategies. Our ongoing investments and capabilities such as Radford McLagan compensation database and our proprietary AI sensitivity tool are enhancing insight we bring to clients as they assess the impact of AI on their organizations. And make informed talent decisions. And as clients reskill and redeploy talent, we are helping them strengthen the employee experience. For example, through Aon Activate, our data-led, AI-powered total rewards and benefits platform organizations can deliver a more connected, personalized experience across benefits, well-being, pensions, and rewards. These capabilities are helping clients address both sides of the workforce transformation. Enabling employees to adapt to the changing nature of work, while enhancing the experience that supports them. Across the firm, we see growing evidence our technology investments are enabling our strategy and enhancing value for clients. Organizations increasingly turn to us to help them navigate some of their most important strategic decisions around digital infrastructure and data centers. A recent engagement with one of the world's largest technology companies demonstrates the value of our integrated approach. As the client accelerated its investment in large-scale digital infrastructure, traditional risk solutions were no longer sufficient. We brought together expertise across commercial risk and reinsurance to help redesign the client's risk financing strategy. Expand available capacity, and improve operational efficiency. Importantly, the client was looking for a strategic partner. That could help reimagine the process using technology. Integrate more effectively with its own sophisticated systems, and create a more data-driven approach to managing risk, and capital. And this is not a one-off example, but reflects a broader opportunity as companies across tech are turning to Aon to help address their complex risk resilience, and capital challenges through coordinated solutions. The scale of this opportunity and the value we bring to clients further reflected in the continued expansion of our data center lifecycle insurance program. Last week, we announced an increase in program capacity to $5 billion while broadening the integrated risk solutions we provide to support digital infrastructure assets throughout their lifecycle. We are also seeing increasing demand from private equity and other capital providers as they seek differentiated insights and capability to deploy capital more effectively. As we deepen our relationships with these firms, we are creating and helping connect institutional funds with opportunity. While creating new sources of capital for clients and providing investors with access to uncorrelated risk and return streams. In doing so, we are expanding the addressable market. Strengthening resilience, and reducing the protection gap for clients. Demand for our integrated capabilities is proving equally powerful in the middle market. Where we continue to see increased adoption of data-driven analytics and greater collaboration across solution lines. We are expanding our middle market platform through our programmatic tuck-in strategy, have deployed more than $350 million in capital year-to-date. Including opportunities that enhance our MGU and MGA capabilities. At the same time, we continue to draw on our ABS platform to accelerate NFP's growth. The success we are seeing today reinforces our confidence in continuing to invest behind these opportunities, to further expand and strengthen our middle market platform over time. Taken together, these examples demonstrate how we connect risk, capital, and people solutions to drive stronger client outcomes and expand our opportunities. The continued demand for our capabilities reinforces the power of what we have created by integrating risk capital and human capital and is translating into strong financial performance and momentum. Turning briefly to our second quarter results. We delivered 5% organic revenue growth, achieving mid-single-digit or greater organic growth across all solution lines. 70 basis points of adjusted operating margin expansion 9% adjusted EPS growth and $483 million of free cash flow. Edmund will discuss our financial performance and capital allocation strategy in greater detail, but I will note that our balance sheet remains strong and flexible. Supporting our disciplined approach to capital allocation. Looking ahead, we are confident in the trajectory of the business. The environment will continue to evolve. Pricing conditions will change. New technologies will emerge. Capital and client needs will continue to become more complex and interconnected. However, these dynamics increase the relevance of Aon's capabilities. Organizations increasingly need insight, expertise, and execution that span risk, capital, and workforce decisions. They need partners capable of helping them operate confidently amid uncertainty. Now more than ever, we are exceptionally well positioned to meet that need. Our organizational alignment around risk capital, human capital, supported by Aon Business Services further strengthens our ability to bring together distinctive capabilities on behalf of clients. As our capabilities expand and client relationships deepen, we continue to see growing opportunities to create value. And for our 3x3 Plan, we are focused on continuing to execute with discipline, and build on capabilities that support growth well beyond the plan. Finally, to our more than 60,000 colleagues around the world, Thank you. Thank you for your commitment to our clients, each other, and your Aon United strategy. Your dedication continues to drive our success and position us for long-term growth. Now let me turn the call over to Edmund. Edmund?
Edmund J. Reese: Thank you, Greg, and good morning, everyone. Before turning to the details of our second quarter results, I want to frame today's discussion on the continuation of a consistent theme through the cycle performance. Over the past several quarters, disciplined execution across our business and financial model has translated into a consistently strong performance. In line with or above industry across the key financial metrics including organic revenue growth. As we move into the second half of 2026, our underlying business and financial model the foundation of that performance remains unchanged. What has evolved is the environment in which we are executing. We are operating in a period characterized by both the transitioning pricing cycle and an accelerated pace of technological change. Periods like this increase the dispersion across outcomes. and bring into sharper focus to business models that are structurally advantaged and built to perform through the cycle. Against that backdrop, our results continue to reflect differentiated performance. We are delivering top-line growth, expanding margins, and generating strong free cash flow. Our consistency, particularly in a changing environment, is an important signal. It reflects not just execution in a single period or given quarter, but the durability and persistence we expect from our underlying model That durability is grounded in structural decisions we have made over time. Our client-centric organizational model Aon United, now established over more than 15 years. Aligns how we deliver solutions, invest in talent, and allocate capital. Combined with our early and continued investments, in data and increasingly AI-enabled analytical capabilities, we are enhancing the quality, speed, and relevance of the insights we deliver to clients. As value continues to shift toward insight-led decision-making that drives client outcomes, that advantage becomes even more pronounced. We also recognize that the current pace of technological change broadens the range of potential long-term outcomes. Importantly, our disciplined approach remains consistent. We continue to make deliberate high-conviction investments, many of which generate value today. And build strategic advantage over time. Regardless of how the technology landscape evolves, these investments act as catalysts to strengthen our competitive advantage and support sustained growth that compounds. Areas like this tend to further differentiate strong businesses. And as we look at our performance and our positioning, we believe that is exactly what is occurring. In the changing environment, consistent performance is the clearest signal. And that is what our results continue to demonstrate. So with that framing, let's turn to our second quarter results. On slide 5, you see the second quarter results. Organic revenue growth was 5%, and total revenue increased 2% year-over-year to $4.2 billion. Adjusted operating margin expanded by 70 basis points for the quarter and reached 28.9%. Adjusted EPS was $3.81, up 9% year-over-year. And finally, we generated $483 million in free cash flow. Let's get into the details of these results starting with organic revenue growth on Slide 6. Organic revenue growth was 5% in the quarter, in line with our mid-single-digit for better guidance. Growth was broad-based with all four solution lines, delivering 5% organic revenue growth, reflecting the strength of our diversified business mix, and the consistency of the growth drivers underpinning our performance. That consistency is most evident in new business which has contributed nine to 11 points for nine consecutive quarters. Providing a durable foundation for sustainable growth through varying market conditions. And commercial risk organic revenue growth was 5% reflecting continued strength in our core P&C business. Where new business generation and higher retention drove meaningful contribution from EMEA and North America. Construction delivered a fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth as we continue to convert our record data center pipeline. Additionally, our MGA and MGU platforms benefited from ongoing client demand for specialized underwriting solutions. M&A services were lower year-over-year against the Q2 2025 comparison that benefited from elevated closed deal activity. While this tempered overall commercial risk growth in the quarter, announced transaction volumes are up over 60% which is reflected in a stronger second half pipeline. Reinsurance delivered 5% organic revenue growth to despite meaningful rate pressure in the market. Treaty growth reflected continued strong new business activity including the addition of new logos, which more than offset 15% to 20% lower rates. While facultative placements continue to perform well globally. Growth was further supported by double-digit performance in our strategy and technology group, underscoring the increasing value clients place on analytics, and access to alternative capital solutions. Finally, as part of our risk capital structure, reinsurance performance reflects continued contribution from our data center development efforts. Given that we typically deliver approximately three quarters of annual treaty revenue during the first half of the year, we have strong visibility into our full-year outlook. The strength of our results through six months combined with the continued momentum in international facultative placements, and strong demand for our strategy and technology group solutions. Reinforces our confidence in delivering full-year organic revenue growth consistent with our mid-single-digit or greater objective. Health solutions grew 5% in the quarter driven by continued strength our core health and benefits business, particularly in EMEA where demand for global benefits remains strong. Growth also benefited from improved performance in talent solutions as we converted a strong pipeline. Along with contribution from NFP, particularly in executive benefits. Employers continue to face rising health care costs, evolving workforce needs, and increasing benefits complexity. All of which drive demand for our health analytics. Finally, wealth generated 5% organic revenue growth. Reflecting sustained demand for regulatory and valuation work across the U.K. and EMEA. In addition, the demand for increased pension risk transfer solutions in the U.S. as plan sponsors resume evaluating derisking opportunities and seek to improve balance sheet efficiency. Turning to the key components of our Q2 organic revenue growth on slide 7. A key driver of predictability in our revenue profile is the consistency of our new business performance. In Q2, new business contributed 10 points to organic revenue growth supported by a balanced mix of new client wins and expanding our share of wallet with existing clients. Our sustained investment in revenue-generating talent is a meaningful driver of the consistent new business contribution. The 2024 and 2025 cohorts contributed approximately 100 basis points of organic revenue growth in the quarter. With their impact increasing as productivity ramps. Revenue generating headcount is up 3% year-to-date. And given the opportunities we continue to see across priority growth areas, including construction, energy, and health, We remain on track to expand this population by 4% to 8% despite the competitive talent market. Retention remained strong at a mid-90s level. Continued improvement in commercial risk up 40 basis points and reinsurance up 20 basis points. Reflect increased engagement through our enterprise client group, enhanced service delivery from ABS, and our ability to provide differentiated access to both traditional and alternative forms of capital. Net new business contributed 5 points to organic revenue growth in the quarter. Net market impact, which captures the impact of rate and exposure, was modestly positive and within our expected zero to two-point range despite softer pricing environment in P&C and reinsurance. Importantly, these results reflect the durability of our business model, across market cycles. With growth driven by business investment and client demand rather than pricing cycles. And one final point on revenue, second quarter fiduciary investment income was $58 million. down 12% from the prior year as higher average balances were more than offset by lower interest rates. On slide 8, Q2 adjusted operating income was up 5% to $1.2 billion, and adjusted operating margin expanded 70 basis points to 28.9%. This margin expansion reflects the impact of lower rates on investment income from fiduciary balances, benefit from the Aon United restructuring program, and most importantly, continued operating leverage enabled by our scalable ABS platform. All of which were in line with our expectations. The scale advantages created through ABS, including AI-enabled productivity improvements and disciplined expense management, continue to lower unit costs across our operations, while increasing our capacity to invest. This is the power of the ABS growth engine. Generating operating leverage that funds growth investments enabling us to broaden the addressable market and deliver sustainable top-line growth, while continuing to expand margins. Restructuring savings were $25 million in the quarter, contributing approximately 60 basis points to our adjusted operating margin. We remain on track to deliver $100 million of savings in 2026, advancing toward our goal of $450 million in total savings by 2027 with 2026 marking the final year of our restructuring investment. Moving the interest, other income, and taxes on slide 9, Interest income was $5 million in the second quarter driven by interest earned on proceeds from the sale of NFP wealth. Interest expense came in at $179 million. $33 million lower than last year, primarily due to lower average debt balances. We expect Q3 2026 interest expense to be approximately $185 million. Other expense was $15 million lower than last year driven by remeasurements of balance sheet currency exposures and lower noncash pension expense. We estimate Q3 2026 other expense to range between $15 million and $20 million Finally, the Q2 effective tax rate was 20.1%. up 360 basis points over Q2 2025 which benefited from a favorable discrete tax item. We continue to expect a full-year tax rate of 19.5% to 20.5%. Turning now to free cash flow and capital allocation on slide 10. We generated $483 million of free cash flow in the second quarter. As expected, Q2 2026 free cash flow included $267 million of tax impact from the NFP wealth sale proceeds. Importantly, strong operating income growth offset that headwind highlighting the strength of our cash generation. Through the first six months of the year, free cash flow is up 4% and we remain confident in our ability to deliver double-digit free cash flow growth in 2026. Running the capital on the right-hand side of the page our strong free cash flow generation enables us to continue to execute our disciplined capital allocation model. Balancing investment for growth with capital return to shareholders. We remained active on M&A and allocated $29 million to targeted tuck-in acquisitions in middle market to align with our strategic priorities and return thresholds. Consistent with last quarter, shareholder return represented the largest use of capital in Q2. In total, we returned $775 million, including $600 million in share repurchases. Given the dislocation in the market, we opportunistically accelerated repurchases during the first half of the year reflecting our conviction that Aon's share price remains well below the firm's intrinsic value. As always, our objective is disciplined capital allocation. That maximizes long-term shareholder value. We have exceeded our objective of at least $1 billion in share repurchases for the year and we have continued strategic flexibility. We remain well positioned to allocate capital towards the highest return opportunities available, whether through high return accretive M&A or incremental shareholder return. I will conclude my prepared remarks on slide 11 with a few thoughts on our financial objectives and 2026 guidance. Our second quarter results and our results through the first half of 2026 reflect the strength of our business, and financial model. Disciplined execution of the 3x3 Plan, and the durability of our through the cycle performance. The underlying drivers of growth remain firmly in place. We are generating sustainable organic revenue growth through consistent new business generation and high retention. Translating that growth into strong earnings through operating leverage, and converting those earnings into double-digit free cash flow growth. As a result, we are reaffirming our 2026 full-year guidance, including mid-single-digit or greater organic revenue growth, 70 to 80 basis points of margin expansion, strong adjusted earnings growth, and double-digit free cash flow growth. Before we move to Q&A, I want to leave you with one final thought. The structural advantage we have built through our Aon United strategy operationalized through risk capital, human capital, and ABS. And our investment in AI-embedded technology within ABS, are increasingly differentiating our performance and serving as a catalyst for durable growth. We enter the second half of the year with greater visibility, significant financial flexibility, and confidence in our ability to continue creating value for clients, which fuels sustainable growth and long-term shareholder value creation. With that, let's open the line for questions. Dylan, back to you.
Operator: Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. We ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. The confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. Before pressing the star keys. One moment, while we poll for questions. Our first question comes from David Motemaden with Evercore. Please go ahead.
David Motemaden: Just had a question on Commercial Risk, Edmund, you had called out M&A services. As something that tempered the growth this quarter. I am just wondering if you could maybe size that And you also mentioned a stronger second half pipeline. How we should think about that contributing for the rest of the year.
Edmund J. Reese: Sorry, David. Good morning, and, thanks for the questions. I was on mute there for a moment. The momentum I think the first thing I would say about commercial risk is the momentum continues to build here. Remember, we are in a lower rate environment commercial risk was 5% in the quarter, 6% through the first six months, well within our mid-single-digit or greater results. You are right that I highlighted M&A services muted the growth for the quarter. And remember, it was growing over an elevated Q2. But the important point is that announced transactions are up over 60%. That is reflected in our pipeline. We get the revenue on M&A as the deals close. And I will say that M&A becomes a tailwind for the rest of the year given our leadership role, within TMT. But the important thing here is that every other significant component of revenue within commercial risk was mid-single-digit or greater. The growth was broad-based across the regions. I talked about strength in EMEA. Talked about strength in North America in our core P&C business. I also emphasized the growth in the priority areas. You saw a fifth consecutive double-digit quarter in construction. That is data center, but I would also highlight defense builds and pharmaceutical builds as well. And we are progressing in the specialty business, especially as we combine NFP with our legacy platforms and integrate some of the companies that we just acquired. For us, the key is the consistency of the growth drivers here. New business was up over 10% contribution. That is the thing to focus on. that is very much supported by the priority hires that we have. Retention was up another quarter by 40 basis points. that is our Aon Client Treaty helping us win RFPs, and we are rolling that out across our different clients. And the net market contribution was still positive. So M&A will be a tailwind as we move forward. We will continue to focus on our investments, the drivers of growth, talent, and technology. that is what gives us confidence in the guidance moving forward. But, Greg, anything you want to add on this?
Gregory C. Case: Well, I think that was a terrific summary. I would say, David, look step back for a second. Edmund talked about 5% with a little bit of headwind from one of our strongest businesses on M&A services. With a strong second half. But what I would just add is just a reflection on the observation on risk capital. You see it in commercial risk. We may talk about it in reinsurance as well. Risk capital, this construct where you are bringing an integrated view to a client in a very unique way, bringing content, capability, and expertise. Our colleagues showing up together in the most important environments. This is a source of great strength. And it really is cutting across the entire business, as Edmund described. I think about some of the some of the work we have done on the data center front, some of the biggest balance sheets in the world, and our ability to bring new insight around how they understand, exposure, how they transact risk, how they execute it, how they access capital, access capital well beyond traditional, including traditional well beyond, is just really a proof point around the strength of risk capital. And you saw that show up in quarter as well, along with all the details that Edmund described.
David Motemaden: Great. No, thank you for that. Maybe just following up, just on the pricing environment. Within commercial risk, as well. So you know, noted the modestly positive market impact. what is your outlook on that as we go forward throughout the rest of the year, the pricing environment? Is obviously changing. It sounds like casualty pricing is moderating around the edges. Do you guys think that you can continue to offset some of the moderating pricing and market impact with net new business?
Gregory C. Case: Well, let me start, then I mean, feel free to add as well here. But listen, we start I will start. He will probably finish as well. We are absolutely committed to mid-single-digit or greater under any pricing cycle. This is not about pricing cycle for us. This is about client need and client response. And for us, are gonna drive mid-single-digit or greater irrespective. But the commentary, if you step back, think about it from a macro view, versus quarter to quarter, demand continues to outpace supply as you think about the complexity of risks. We are talking about that. Risks are going up. In all the different traditional areas. We talk about the four megatrends in trade, technology, weather, workforce. The new areas, data centers. All these are sources of demand. And as that, you know, as that demand continues to increase for all these reasons, that is going to work its way through pricing conditions over time, in our view, over the long-term. And we are seeing a number of different things that are happening in the micro markets, and you are right on property is down. Casualty is still going up but slower, and we are seeing flattening in different areas. But net, the real punch line here for us is we support clients in different pricing environments, unit pricing environments. It changes the way we help them change the way they think about their overall structure. And again, that is back to the power of what risk capital is all about. Helping them understand, measure, and mitigate risk, some through insurance, some through retention, whole range of different approaches. And that is the that is the power of client leadership you know, with what we are doing in the 3x3.
Edmund J. Reese: David, this is one of the--to Gregory's point, this is one of the most important questions that emphasize on the call. It was the key theme in our prepared remarks, which was performance through the cycle. Q2 is a heavy property quarter. And reinsurance, as you know, is weighted towards the first half of the year. So those are the two biggest areas of pricing impact, and we are still performing despite the rate pressure there. And that reiterates the point that we have been making, that our organic growth is more correlated to business investment in property and equipment, so nominal GDP, much less correlated to pricing. Gregory's point is exactly right that we look at these as micro markets. Property has been down to Gregory's point, casualty still growing but maybe growing at a lower rate. there is a different dynamic on D&O, a different dynamic on cyber, which are probably flat to low-single-digit. And we see differences by client segment as well. More muted, declines in the middle market, for instance. So when you think about that, we still expect the net market impact to be in line with our expectations of zero to two points. it is been positive throughout this, and we expect that to continue here. So to Gregory's final point, that has us confident in our mid-single-digit guidance or greater moving forward.
David Motemaden: Awesome. Thank you.
Operator: Our next question comes from Rob Cox from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Rob Cox: Hey, good morning. Just a question on the reinsurance business. So the 5% organic growth, which I think is impressive, compared to any period with this level of property cap pricing declines. And maybe the answer relates to some of your prepared remarks But my question is, if you think there is something that has structurally changed within Aon's reinsurance business to make it more resilient here, or is there something unique about this time frame from a cyclical standpoint with facultative or cat bonds that is supporting the growth?
Gregory C. Case: Well, Rob, Edmund just described in a prior question as one of the most important on performance in the cycle. Your question around is structure changing and making a difference to our ability to serve clients. We will spend all day long on that if we want to. The answer is a resounding yes. It has been 15 years of continuous investment around connecting the firm. Operationalizing through risk capital and human capital, and then creating this massive engine called Aon Business Services which coordinates data and content such that we can bring it together on behalf of clients. And to us, Q2 in reinsurance is another example of exceptional performance in the quarter, but really, this is this is a series of, you know, great performance quarters and real momentum in the first half of the year and going forward. For all the reasons that Edmund described in his remarks and the pricing cycle, etcetera, all you described by the way, I would just highlight as well, we are disproportionately privileged to have the share we have got on the on the property side. We are glad to have it. So this is maximum pressure from that standpoint. What we have done against that is just continue to grow the business. And this, again, reflects the power of risk capital. This is, if you think about it, integrated capability. You know, the ability to kinda help clients calibrate exposure, not just insurers, but clients around the world. When you think about the biggest technology, the technology example I provided in my remarks, was, you know, a very, very large sophisticated client. Massive balance sheet, trying to think about data center investment digital infrastructure investment, how do they calibrate exposure? How do they think about their risk strategy? Then seriously, having done that, that requires a level of analytics that is not just commercial risk analytics. it is reinsurance analytics. It is it is what Aon Business Services gives us that no one's ever had before. But the data source and dataset we have got, the way that it is been curated, the way that the fidelity of that content is just different. And if you show up not just with the content, with a group of colleagues who are together acting on behalf of a client, you are going beyond somebody's P&L. You are going beyond who gets credit. You are just serving a client. And we are seeing that show through, and you see that in reinsurance where just a disproportionate amount of content that actually is provides tremendous value across our entire portfolio beyond the reinsurance piece, in addition to just basic raw horsepower in treaty and fac. I mean, ILS, a record first half, and we are, you know, we are we are near half the business. On the ILS front. So it is absolutely core in the key areas capital advisory. But really, this construct of risk capital, the organization of risk capital and human capital and how they put together that is different. That exists nowhere else. And for us, that client response to that has been tremendous, you see it in Q2 and reinsurance.
Rob Cox: Thank you. And just a follow-up. Wanted to ask on AI adoption It seems like from the outside, there is somewhat of a divergence between large insurance brokers with respect to partnering with external firms or building internally to achieve their AI strategy. Was just hoping you could talk about Aon's approach with respect to that and your confidence that it is the right move for Aon.
Gregory C. Case: Well, listen. I would build off, Rob, the history here. We did not start with an AI strategy. That to us does not exist. AI accelerates what we have been working on. And, actually, in many respects, the track we laid down over the last 15 years to connect our firm, then again, how we operationalize this risk capital, human capital, and Aon Business Services means we have already been doing multiple, multiple years of work connecting the dots such that we can actually bring together a data lake different than anyone else could do. We could curate it and create fidelity around that data in way no one else could do. We could then, by the way, that is not enough. It is not just about the analytics. It is about how you get it in the hands of the great practitioners, the trusted advisers who sit across the table from clients. And that is it is, again, the organization of risk capital and human capital and how we deliver it. All those things, Rob, are in place. And then all of a sudden, we get we get an acceleration opportunity, and that is AI. And we have been doing artificial intelligence for quite some time, and, you know, engineering of our business for quite some time, machine learning, but really, it is a generative AI, which is an accelerant for us. So for Aon, this is a massive opportunity to actually accelerate what we have already been working on. It is not a new strategy, an accelerator. And we are working with all the partners. And we are happy to chat with them. By the way, one of the things we bring to the table that is fundamentally different is is not just productivity orientation. We are we orient around revenue. We orient around growth. If you think about the analyzers that we have got, the risk analyzers, the health analyzers, Think about what we have done in Aon Client Treaty, what we are we just announced what we are doing on the overall global exchange in terms of how we are thinking about our business. So these are things that are revenue-generating engines on behalf of clients that are driven and reinforced through our ABS strategy with AI. So you know, for us, it is not about coming up with something new and hoping we have the right strategy. We tap into the best partners in the world and everywhere we can to accelerate proven strategy. And Edmund, I think, described it very well at the end of his remarks. This is what is making a difference for us. And it is making a difference for us with clients in terms of how many we win, how we retain them and what we do with them. And it is just a very integrated approach data-driven, analytics-driven through our colleagues that really is responding to very specific client needs. And that is really that is how we think about it.
Rob Cox: Got it. Thanks for all the color.
Operator: Our next question comes from Tracy Benguigui with Wolfe Research. Please go ahead.
Tracy Benguigui: Good morning. You have linked commercial risk organic revenue growth to nominal GDP rather than price but it is worth noting that hyperscaler CapEx is roughly $750 billion. It probably counts to two points. Of nominal GDP. So let's say ex-hyperscaler closer to 3.5%. So on that note, I am curious, what is the largest known limit or shared underwriting capacity available per data center development since I think individual projects could reach $20 billion to $50 billion And given hyperscaler's balance sheet dwarfs the entire insurance industry, is this mostly risk self-insured with more fee-based rather than commission-based.
Edmund J. Reese: So it is it is a great question. We actually just had one of our leaders leading this actually write an article on that particular or actually respond to an article on that particular item. First, for us, you know that we have now increased our facility itself to $5 billion. Over 30 carriers participating in that. We think because of the point that you are raising, we will actually need nontraditional capital as well, and we have been working with it. But to answer your specific question, we started out doing sort of single-billion-dollar types of data centers. We now, I think in that article, you saw can do for a single facility up to $1.3 billion for a single facility. But the point is these facilities are costing the amount that you just talked about. You mentioned $15 billion to $20 billion. We think some are $40 billion to $50 billion, and that is going to require capital that goes beyond traditional insurance capital. And that is back to the remarks Gregory was making at the beginning. The key for us is that we have a leadership position here. We talked about a pipeline being up over three times what it was last year. We are seeing that flow through our revenue. We have been advising on data centers. We have engineering expertise. Our facility is one of the largest out there. It is a driver of growth for us moving forward, but we think there is an opportunity for all to grow thinking about the size of these facilities.
Gregory C. Case: But, Greg, yes. I just said, you summarized it perfectly. And Tracy, this is it. I mean, this is this is the old game. If you think about the next big frontier and what we can do together as an industry, this is the fight for relevance. How do we bring it? You are 100% correct. On a $4 trillion capital pool, which is the insurance world, which we love, wonderful partners every day, it is not big enough. But by the way, tremendous expertise, tremendous insight. What we have to do is draw capital into our industry in a way in which they see the opportunity for meaningful return, and they come in and serve. And against that pool, Tracy, it is not the $4 trillion. It is a $250 trillion pool. So this is accessing pension, sovereign funds, private equity, etcetera. And look what Aon's doing. We are doing traditional in the way Edmund described. In addition, the content that we have is drawing capital from outside the industry into this category. And ask yourself, what is the engine that does that? It is not our goodwill. It is our content. It is our analytics. When we can do the work and show them exactly how to come into our industry, how and where they are gonna make a return, and have it durable enough that they will bet their balance sheet. A pension fund, a sovereign fund, a private equity firm, then we have increased capacity. The TAM is always there in the insurance world, you know, addressable market. We just cannot access it because we cannot actually bring capital in until Aon came along with this construct called risk capital. And the data and the analytics to pull it in. So for us, we love your challenge. And by the way, the knife edge here is if we bring it in, we are becoming more and more relevant. If you do not, we will do fine work, but we will not actually make a meaningful difference as an industry. What the potential is here. We like our chances because we think the return opportunity is tremendous. And frankly, the way to think about risk management in a data center goes way beyond just the build of the ongoing performance. If you get the risk management right and you get the you get the risk dispersed in the in the right and understood in the right way, you frankly can change the operating cost of a data center. You can change the volatility Although, remember, business interruption here is gonna be measured in millions of dollars a minute. You change the game, and that is our aspiration. And that is what we are trying to do with risk capital. And it is a massive opportunity. We think it is unique in our industry's history. I am really enthused on this topic.
Tracy Benguigui: I appreciate the response, but can you just clarify this more fee-based business?
Gregory C. Case: it is value-based business. Show up with a client and you provide value, you then provide compensation. it is all the different angles. We are not discriminating in either way. We provide value. We do fine. And if we do not provide value, we are not relevant. We do not get we do not--we do not get compensated. From our standpoint, we think the opportunity for you know, value creation in so many different angles. The build, the operations. By the way, not just the hyperscaler. it is also the money being raised to fund the hyperscalers. it is the builders who, frankly, cannot get in the game. I mean, there are 50 builders, 100 builders trying to do this. Many of them have never really done this before. They cannot get financing unless they get the risk capital and their risk management right. They cannot, you know, so in our view is there is opportunities here all along the value chain, and all of which, by the way, if you add value and help them succeed, you are gonna do very, very well from a payment standpoint.
Tracy Benguigui: Great. And my follow-up is, I believe at our RIMS conference, Joe Peiser has spoken about a pricing correction over 18 months rather than a traditional soft cycle is that correction included in your organic revenue outlook?
Edmund J. Reese: Look. Again, you I mean, you hit on it the beginning of your first question. We think the correlation explanation of variance between pricing and our organic revenue growth is low. We continue to emphasize sort of the nominal GDP point that you just raised. But we do think in listening to Joe's comments, I think they are indicative. We do think this pricing cycle and environment is more nuanced than a single cycle. We view these, as Gregory said earlier, as a collection of micro markets across geography, across product and segment. Some of those products are going in different directions right now. The key point, and I think the point that Joe was raising, is that structural risk trends primarily loss severity argue against an extended prolonged softness. So the duration is likely measured. And we are also beginning to see sort of underwriting focus limiting some of the aggressive price competition as you look at the carriers here. For us, our focus is gonna continue to be client-centric. We are hyper-focused on helping our clients in this environment, expand their coverage, increase the limits. Gregory's point is the right one. The point that he just made that the value capture is not in the rate; it is in our placement complexity in the solution design. So zero to two points is what is showing in our results today. And as of now, we continue to expect that moving forward. That has us strongly in line with the guidance that we have set. Thank you so much.
Operator: Our next question comes from Bob Huang with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Bob Huang: My first question is around capital. Edmund, I know you kind of addressed the buyback. And maybe just if you can help us unpack a little bit, right, like, first half, like you said, over a billion dollars of buyback already. Just given the strong earnings and the cash flow generation, going forward. Is there a reason not to think that you cannot maintain the current buyback momentum? Or in other words, is there a reason to believe the current level of capital cannot be maintained?
Edmund J. Reese: It can absolutely be maintained. We talked about coming into 2026 with over $7 billion of capacity. What we are playing for here is the strategic flexibility given the position that we are in right now. The first point I would make is that share repurchases are a key part of the balanced capital allocation model. The $1.1 billion in the first half, we have clearly hit that objective to the point that you have made, and I am very pleased to say 79% of the capital deployment in the first half has been shareholder return. With buybacks representing the majority of that. But we are very excited about the position of strength we are in and the strategic flexibility. That means that we are evaluating the pipeline opportunities. We determine whether they fit our strategic objectives. We determine whether they fit our financial criteria, which I have talked about before. I would be happy to go into detail about that. We will not let if we do not see those objectives being met, we will not let any excess cash sit on the balance sheet. We will return that and do more share repurchases here. So this is, Bob, just a continuation of our capital allocation model. We are looking at investment for growth, because that is what helps the medium and the long-term with capital return to shareholders, and we continue to be in a good position of strength with flexibility moving forward here.
Bob Huang: Got it. Really appreciate that. The second question is on the international EMEA business is one of the callouts you had on commercial risk solutions. Can you maybe talk about the durability of growth in the EMEA segment? Intuitively, feels like EMEA may be seeing the similar pricing pressure as U.S., but GDP growth kinda really varies depending on jurisdiction. Just curious about your thoughts on the EMEA side. Related to commercial risk solutions.
Edmund J. Reese: Yeah. The GDP growth is more uneven in the international markets, but not disruptive. Is what I would I would say. You know, when you think about the regulatory environment and the geopolitical environment, that increases demand, for our business. And you think about our global footprint, we have a very diversified portfolio and a moderate sensitivity to any particular international region. So you are seeing strong growth across these markets that I have been calling out in EMEA, but I would also go Latin America into that mix. With solid GDP growth is actually seeing more foreign direct investment that is actually higher than that in GDP growth. Helping us in those markets. Commercial risk, our efforts on the new business side and now in specialty and then health on global benefits, plus the regulatory environment. I just read an article this morning that I think will actually drive more demand, on the regulatory front in the U.K. and EMEA. Those things are helping to drive that business. So for us, it is really this diversified portfolio you might see uneven levels of growth in individual markets. But this diversified portfolio gives us resilient growth, and the international locations continue to be strong contributors for us. Alright.
Bob Huang: Really appreciate that. Thank you.
Operator: Our next question comes from Katie Fleischer with Autonomous Research. Please go ahead.
Katie Fleischer: Thanks. Good morning. I guess I would circle back to the discussion of growth in revenue-generating producers. I think the 3% year-to-date is a little bit below the full-year guide there. Could you help us understand if that was subject to any you know, impacts from timing and when hires are made? And then could you also help us understand what is driving your confidence and being able to accelerate that pace of growth back up to the 4% to 8% range?
Edmund J. Reese: Wow. Through six months, we are quite excited by 3% growth. Through the first six months. This is this is you know, our recruiting efforts and the recruiting efforts of other firms, I would say, are intense right now. The competition intense, so we are not immune to that. We are up 3% through the first six months. Our 2024 and 2025 cohorts are contributing over 100 basis points. We are seeing the contribution from them to show up in the areas that we have been focused on, construction, energy, health. So because we are at 3% through six months, we are maintaining that 4% to 8% objective. We have always said we would like to be at the higher end of that objective. We have sort built our plans upon achieving that, but the competitive environment is intense. We do think that the capabilities that we have that allow us to help and retain clients, those things are helping us attract and retain folks. And for us, it is not about, but we always say it is not about the quantity. It is about the quality of folks in areas that are growing higher than GDP. So we feel good about the 4% to 8%, but this is gonna be hand-to-hand combat the rest of the year for us to get to where we want to be.
Gregory C. Case: Well, listen, Edmund. You covered it very well. I would just highlight one thing, Katie. We are fortunate. We have a lot of momentum on the client front at risk capital and human capital. We talked a lot about on the call. But think about it. If you are a colleague and you want to be a practitioner in our world, the opportunity to come in no matter how good you are, and it really is not just number and percentage, but really quality leaders. If you can be better professionally, if you get more content capability, more stuff to do your business, to do your work, it makes us more attractive. And we have lots of folks seeking us out, and so we have been very fortunate. And we take this at a very measured pace to accomplish what Edmund described. And in the end, you know, we have got great momentum here as well. And they will contribute, but not just number, but really capability as they come in.
Katie Fleischer: Yeah. So certainly, I understand the very competitive environment. I am just trying to understand the bridge, right, from 3% year-to-date to 4% on the full-year guide versus getting all the way up to 6% or, you know, better than the midpoint of the full-year guide. Do you think that your relative value proposition to new hires will help you win additional producers in the back half of the year here? Like, is that enough to set you apart from competitors?
Gregory C. Case: Well, listen. The history over the last number of years would say the answer to that is absolutely yes. But, again, the highest quality 4% is better than a lower quality 7% or 8%. So what we are going for is true leaders who come in, practitioners who can make a difference, and then what we you know, our aspiration is we help them even be better. And our colleagues, you know, lead the way with the content capability we have got. So from our standpoint, we are quite enthusiastic about the momentum we have on bringing colleagues into the firm, the right colleagues. We are even more enthusiastic about the momentum as they come in together and working with our colleagues in the risk capital, human capital construct we described, bringing you know, frankly, opportunities to wow clients in ways that other people cannot do. And so for us, it is it is we are very optimistic, and we have made great progress. And I just would reinforce Edmund's point: 3% for the first half, great progress, and we will continue to drive it. Sometimes it will be higher. Sometimes it will be lower, but the momentum is exceptionally strong.
Katie Fleischer: Thank you. I appreciate the color.
Operator: Thank you. I would now like to turn the call back over to Gregory C. Case for closing remarks. Please go ahead.
Gregory C. Case: Thanks, Dylan. Listen. Just wanted to say on behalf of Edmund and me, thanks, everyone, for joining. We appreciate it. And look forward to catching up with you next quarter. Take care.
Operator: This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.
