Marsh & McLennan’s global earnings soared over the fourth quarter of last year, but the local broking operation is feeling the same sort of slowdown its global parent is suffering.

At present the profits are flowing from the company’s consulting and risk management businesses. But the group’s broking units have been affected by what Marsh & McLennan calls the “headwinds” of stalled premium rates and diminishing margins.

Still, the company has reported a consolidated net income of $US990 million ($1.26 billion) for the full year, a jump of more than 100% compared with $US404 million ($513 million) for 2005.

The local arm of Marsh & McLennan does not publish detailed results, but Marsh COO John Clayton told Sunrise Exchange News last year’s result for the Australian operations was “quite good”, even though the softening market affected the broking business.

“The past two years in Australia have been challenging, considering the Spitzer investigation and the soft market conditions, which have had an effect on our brokerage business,” he said.

Mr Clayton says the company has positioned itself to deal with the insurance cycle, which is always a challenge. “We think market conditions are still soft and we don’t see any evidence of hardening at this point.”