Marsh, Aon and Willis are in negotiations with New York State regulators to reinstate contigent commissions, banned in 2005 due to conflict-of-interest concerns, a development that could restore significant revenue the commissions once generated but also place the insured at a disadvantage.

According to the Wall Street Journal, State regulators are conducting negotiations to revise, or even lift, the 2005 ban on "contingent commissions" as measured by revenue. Contingent commissions are paid by insurers to brokers and are based on factors such as how much business a broker brings to an insurer and how profitable it is.

In 2005, then New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's investigation alleged that some Marsh brokers were rigging bidding to favor certain insurers. The Attorney General’s office alleged that Marsh was steering business to insurers that paid Marsh big contingent-commissions payments common in the industry. Marsh settled Mr. Spitzer's complaint in 2005 by paying $850 million into a fund to compensate clients, without admitting or denying the allegations.

If the bans are lifted, Arthur Gallagher will add $10 million to its annual revenue; Barclays Capital estimates that the commissions could add an additional $254 million in annual revenue for Marsh, $51 million for Aon, and $40 million for Willis. According to the report in the WSJ, Marsh collected $845 million in contingent commissions in 2003, out of $11.6 billion in revenue that year.