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WILLIS TOWERS WATSON PLC (WTW) Business

Verbatim Item 1 Business section from WILLIS TOWERS WATSON PLC's latest 10-K. Filing date: 2026-02-25. Accession: 0001193125-26-069307.

This page reproduces the company's own Item 1 Business text from the linked SEC filing. It is filer text, not grepcent analysis, scoring, or investment advice.

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS

The Company

WTW is a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company that provides data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk and capital. Utilizing the global view and local expertise of our approximately 47,000 colleagues serving more than 140 countries and markets, we help organizations sharpen strategies, enhance resilience, motivate workforces and maximize performance. We design and deliver solutions that manage risk, optimize benefits, cultivate talent and expand the power of capital to protect and strengthen institutions and individuals. Working closely with our clients, we uncover opportunities for sustainable success.

Our clients operate on a global and local scale in a multitude of businesses and industries throughout the world and generally range in size from large, major multinational corporations to middle-market domestic and international companies. Our clients include many of the world’s leading corporations, including approximately 93% of the FTSE 100, 89% of the Fortune 1000, and 92% of the Fortune Global 500 companies. We also advise the majority of the world’s leading insurance companies. We work with major corporations, emerging growth companies, governmental agencies and not-for-profit institutions in a wide variety of industries, with many of our client relationships spanning decades. None of the Company’s clients individually represented more than 10% of its consolidated revenue for each of the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023. We place insurance with approximately 2,500 insurance carriers, none of which individually accounted for a significant concentration of the total premiums we placed on behalf of our clients in 2025, 2024 or 2023.

Available Information

The Company files annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. The SEC maintains a website that contains annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information that issuers (including WTW) file electronically with the SEC. The SEC’s website is www.sec.gov.

The Company makes available, free of charge through our website, www.wtwco.com, our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, our proxy statement, current reports on Form 8-K and Forms 3, 4, and 5 filed on behalf of directors and Section 16 officers, as well as any amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the ‘Exchange Act’) as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. Unless specifically incorporated by reference, information on our website is not a part of this Form 10-K.

The Company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association, Corporate Governance Guidelines, Audit Committee Charter, Risk and Operational Oversight Committee Charter, Human Capital and Compensation Committee Charter, and Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee Charter are available on our website, www.wtwco.com, in the Investor Relations section, or upon request. Requests for copies of these documents should be directed in writing to the Company Secretary c/o Office of General Counsel, Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company, Brookfield Place, 200 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10281.

General Information

WTW offers its clients a broad range of services and solutions designed to help them identify and control risks, while also enhancing business performance by improving their ability to attract, retain and engage a talented workforce. Our risk control services span from strategic risk consulting, including actuarial analysis and various due diligence services, to practical on-site support such as health and safety or property loss control consulting, alongside analytical and advisory services like hazard modeling and climate risk quantification. We also assist clients in planning for and managing incidents or crises through services like contingency planning, security audits and product tampering plans. To further enhance business performance, we deliver consulting services, technology and solutions that help clients anticipate, identify and capitalize on emerging opportunities in human capital management, as well as offer investment guidance to help them develop disciplined and efficient strategies to meet their financial 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 a private Medicare marketplace in the U.S. through which, along with our active employee marketplace, 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 help sharpen strategies, enhance organizational resilience, motivate workforces and maximize performance to uncover opportunities for sustainable success.

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We derive the majority of our revenue from either commissions or fees for brokerage or from 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.

Business Strategy

We believe that a unified and integrated approach to advisory, broking and solutions can be a path to growth for organizations around the world. We harness our collective power as ‘One WTW’ to make smart connections to serve and support our clients.

We operate in attractive markets – both growing and mature – with a diversified platform across industries, segments and businesses globally.

Our strategy is focused on extending and amplifying WTW’s strengths to deliver sustainable growth and profitability.

We believe we can achieve this through executing on three strategic objectives:


Accelerate performance: By executing on the segment growth strategies to strengthen business fundamentals, advance innovative solutions and capitalize on our global footprint.


Enhance efficiency: By having a continuous improvement mindset, delivering operating leverage in our segments and leveraging WTW Enterprise Delivery Organization (WE DO) to focus on right work, right place, right tools and real estate optimization.


Optimize portfolio: By intentionally managing our portfolio through inorganic and organic investment in areas of strength and deepen our large and high-growth businesses with strategic investments in corporate risk and broking, health and benefits and wealth. Also, by divesting businesses that are no longer a strategic fit or do not align with our desired financial profile.

These objectives are enabled by a focused investment framework and capital allocation strategy.

Through this strategy, we aim to grow revenue, improve margins and increase free cash flow, EBITDA and earnings. In turn, we’ll be able to fulfill our shared company purpose: We transform tomorrows.

We care as much about how we work as we do about the impact that we make. This means commitment to our shared purpose and values, a foundational framework that guides how we run our business and serve our clients. Our values of client focus, teamwork, integrity, respect and excellence underpin all that we do, and how we behave and interact with each other, our clients and our partners.

For more information about risks to our strategic plans, see Part I, Item 1A Risk Factors of this Form 10-K.

Principal Services

We manage our business across two integrated reportable operating segments: Health, Wealth & Career and Risk & Broking. Below are the percentages of revenue generated by each segment for each of the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023.

Year ended December 31,
202520242023
Health, Wealth & Career55%59%60%
Risk & Broking45%41%40%

The following presents descriptions of our segments:

Health, Wealth & Career

The Health, Wealth & Career (‘HWC’) segment provides an array of advice, broking, solutions and technology for employee benefit plans, institutional investors, compensation and career programs, and the employee experience overall. Our portfolio of services support the interrelated challenges that the management teams of our clients face across human resources (‘HR’) and finance.

HWC is the larger of the two segments of the Company. Addressing four key areas, Health, Wealth, Career and Benefits Delivery & Outsourcing, the segment is focused on addressing our clients’ people and risk needs to help them succeed in a global marketplace.

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Health

The Health & Benefits (‘H&B’) business provides strategy and design consulting, plan management service and support, broking and administration across the full spectrum of health, wellbeing and other group benefit programs, including medical, dental, disability, life, voluntary benefits and other coverage. Our reach extends from small/mid-market clients to large-market and multinational clients, across the full geographic footprint of the Company, and to most industries. We can address our clients’ needs in more than 160 countries.

Our colleagues help clients make strategic decisions on topics such as optimizing program spend; evaluating emerging vendors, point solutions and coverage options (including publicly-subsidized health insurance exchanges and private exchanges in the U.S.); and dealing with above-inflation-rate increases in healthcare costs. We also assist clients in selecting the appropriate insurance carriers to cover benefit risks and administer the programs. In addition to our consulting and broking services, we manage a number of collective purchasing initiatives, such as pharmacy and stop-loss, that allow employers to realize greater value from third-party service providers than they can achieve on their own.

With Global Benefits Management, our suite of global services supporting medical, dental and risk (e.g., life, disability) programs, we have a tailored offering for multinationals. This offering includes a flexible set of ready-made solutions, proven technology and an integrated approach to service delivery that translates to a globally consistent, high-quality experience for our clients.

A meaningful portion of revenue in this business is from recurring work, though contracts may be annual or multi-year. Given the balance of revenue across consulting, broking and solutions, our revenue is somewhat weighted to the first half of the year.

Wealth

Our wealth-related businesses include Retirement and Investments.

Retirement — Our Retirement business provides actuarial support, plan design, and administrative services for all forms of pension and retirement savings plans. Our colleagues help clients assess the costs and risks of retirement plans on cash flow, earnings and the balance sheet, the effects of changing workforce demographics on their retirement plans, and retiree benefit adequacy and security. We offer clients a full range of integrated retirement consulting services and solutions to meet the needs of all types of employers. We help multinationals coordinate plan design and actuarial services across their complex global plans. We bring in-depth data analysis and perspective to their decision-making process as we have tracked the retirement designs and financing strategies of companies around the world over many decades.

For clients that want to outsource some or all of their pension plan management, we offer broking services as well as integrated solutions that can combine investment discretionary management, pension administration, core actuarial services, and communication and change management assistance.

Retirement relationships are generally long-term in nature, and client retention rates for this business are high. A significant portion of the revenue in this business is from recurring work, with multi-year contracts that are driven by the heavily regulated nature of pension plans and our clients’ annual needs for these services.

Investments — Our Investments business provides advice and discretionary investment management solutions to defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans as well as to a range of other client types including insurers, endowments and foundations, and private wealth investors. We provide a solution to a significant business problem faced by our clients, namely sustaining the resources and skills required to deliver a financial services product in highly competitive capital markets. We offer a flexible approach that adapts to a wide range of client needs and circumstances, with the objective of higher returns, lower risk and lower costs within each client’s unique situation.

Our solutions range from single asset class activity, through complete management of entire pension plan assets including sophisticated liability hedging programs as well as pooled employer plans/Master Trust under our LifeSight branding.

We bring together a broad array of specialist investment knowledge and skills across all asset classes, a high-quality execution platform, a cost advantage through our scale, and expert advisors with experience across all client types from the largest plans in the world to small corporate pension plans.

We have long-term relationships with our Investments clients, with the majority of our revenue driven by retainer contracts.

Career

Our career-related offerings include advice, data, software and products to address clients’ total rewards and talent issues across the globe delivered through our Work & Rewards and Employee Experience businesses.

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Work & Rewards — Within our Work & Rewards business, we help clients determine the best ways to get work done, the skills needed for jobs, and how to reward employees. We address executive compensation and broad-based rewards. We advise our clients’ management and boards of directors on all aspects of executive pay programs, including base pay, annual bonuses, long-term incentives, perquisites and other benefits. Our focus is on aligning pay plans with an organization’s business strategy and driving desired performance. Our solutions incorporate proprietary market benchmarking data and software to support compensation administration.

Employee Experience — Our Employee Experience business focuses on the provision of solutions including employee insight and listening tools, a technology platform that serves as a gateway for employees and plan participants to access their benefits and career information, communication and change management services.

Revenue for our career-related businesses is partly seasonal in nature, with heightened activity in the second half of the calendar year during the annual compensation, benefits and survey cycles. While these businesses enjoy long-term relationships with many clients, work in some parts of the businesses is project-based and can be sensitive to economic changes. We are increasingly adding tech-enabled solutions to our offerings across HWC, and in particular in Career. The businesses benefit from regulatory changes affecting our clients that require strategic advice, program changes and communication, the redefinition of jobs, work location and career paths as technology disaggregates work, and the recalibration of pay and the employee experience amidst shifting labor markets.

Benefits Delivery & Outsourcing

Our Benefits Delivery & Outsourcing businesses include Individual Marketplace and Global Outsourcing.

Individual Marketplace — Individual Marketplace offers decision support processes and tools to connect consumers with insurance carriers in private individual and Medicare markets. By leveraging multiple distribution channels and a diverse product portfolio, Individual Marketplace offers solutions to a broad consumer base, helping individuals compare, purchase and use health insurance products, tools and information. Individual Marketplace also provides Benefits Accounts to employees and retirees. These are tax-advantaged medical spending and savings accounts including health savings accounts (‘HSA’), health reimbursement accounts (‘HRA’) and flexible spending accounts (‘FSA’), such as dependent care/commuting flexible spending accounts.

Global Outsourcing — Global Outsourcing administers the health, welfare and retirement plans of clients using our proprietary technology for benefit modeling, decision support, enrollment and benefit choice, records management and self-service. Drawing on expertise in H&B and Retirement to create high-performing benefit plan designs, we believe we are well-positioned to help clients of all sizes simplify their benefits delivery, while lowering the total costs of benefits and related administration. Our technology also provides trustees and HR teams with timely management information to monitor activity and service levels and reduce administration costs.

With ongoing servicing requirements and multi-year contracts in place, we have high client retention rates. We provide plan administration services in North America, the U.K., Ireland and Germany.

A significant portion of the revenue in Benefits Delivery & Outsourcing is recurring in nature, driven by either the commissions from the policies we sell, or from long-term service contracts with our clients that typically range from three to five years. Revenue across this business is seasonal and is generally higher in the fourth quarter as it is driven when typical annual enrollment activity occurs.

Risk & Broking

The Risk & Broking (‘R&B’) segment provides a broad range of risk advice, insurance brokerage and consulting services to clients globally, ranging from small businesses to multinational corporations.

The segment comprises two primary businesses: our Corporate Risk & Broking and our Insurance Consulting and Technology businesses.

Corporate Risk & Broking (‘CRB’)

The CRB business places more than $34 billion of premiums into the insurance markets on an annual basis and delivers integrated global solutions tailored to client needs. This is underpinned by data and analytics through a balanced matrix of global lines of business and local Property and Casualty businesses, across four geographical areas: North America, Great Britain, Western Europe and International. Globally, and across the businesses, our specialized and data-driven approach is underpinned by our risk analytics and climate analytics propositions.

Across all businesses, our experts take an industry-focused approach to risk management and assessment, delivering broader perspectives and data-informed decision making to our clients. Our lines of business include Property and Casualty, Affinity, Risk & Analytics and our specialty global lines of business.

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Property and Casualty — Property and Casualty, in each of our geographical areas, provides property and liability insurance brokerage services across a wide range of industries and segments including real estate, healthcare and retail.

Affinity — Through Affinity, we 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.

Risk & Analytics (‘R&A’) — Our R&A offering includes deep expertise on specific client needs. Through the use of holistic analysis, R&A brings value through risk quantification and development of a robust portfolio risk strategy, ultimately delivering a sound financial approach to all clients.

Our specialty global lines of business include:

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 globally, 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.

Global Markets Direct & Facultative — Operating in the major wholesale reinsurance hubs across the globe, including London, Bermuda, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai, solutions are delivered both directly to clients for the most complex property and casualty risks and as facultative reinsurance placements where we serve as an intermediary for insurance companies. Facultative solutions are provided across various classes of risk for our insurer clients, some of which may also be direct clients of WTW. The aim is to deliver optimum results for our clients by getting the right risk to the right market by the right broker, be it local, wholesale or facultative every time.

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.

Credit Risk Solutions (formerly known as Financial Solutions) — Credit Risk Solutions provides insurance broking services and specialized risk advice related to credit and political risk. Clients include international banks, commodity traders, export credit agencies and multinational corporations.

Crisis Management — Our global practice delivers crisis management and contingency risk management to multinational clients, providing comprehensive solutions around terrorism, political violence, accident and health, special crime and active assailant.

Surety — The Global Surety team provides expertise in placing bonds across all industries and around the globe. A surety bond is a financial instrument that guarantees contractual performance, statutory compliance, and financial assurance for domestic and international companies.

Marine — Marine provides 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.

Insurance Consulting and Technology (‘ICT’)

ICT is a global business that provides advice and technology solutions to the insurance industry. We leverage our industry experience, strategic perspective and analytical skills to help clients measure and manage risk and capital, improve business performance and create a sustainable competitive advantage. Our services include software and technology, risk and capital management, products and product pricing, financial and regulatory reporting, financial and capital modeling, M&A, outsourcing and business management.

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Human Capital

Colleague experience – Our colleague experience is an important differentiating factor for WTW and a key enabler of our strategy. It is designed to provide colleagues with a strong sense of purpose and belonging where everyone is heard and valued, the opportunity to build great connections with people and leaders, meaningful and interesting work, and opportunities to grow and thrive with recognition and reward in return. This means we strive to foster an inclusive environment where everyone can be their authentic self, where we encourage curiosity, innovation and a continuous improvement mindset and an environment where we are bold in our thinking and care about the impact we have.

Our values, vision, purpose, and Colleague Value Proposition (‘CVP’) — we’re Authentic, Curious and Bold, sets the tone for what to expect at WTW. In addition, our strategic priorities enhance our focus on how to support and improve our colleague experience. We continually build on our CVP through execution of a colleague experience roadmap and a robust portfolio of colleague listening activities to attract, engage and retain the most accomplished and aspiring talent.

Learning & development – We support professional development and personal growth for our talent. Our colleagues take responsibility to develop their expertise, competencies and professional stature, while the Company invests in the tools and opportunities that allow for our colleagues’ continual development. Our digital-first learning approach enables career development for all our colleagues around the world, complemented by business-specific and technical training. Additionally, we offer targeted development programs for early careers, emerging leaders, managers and experienced leaders.

Colleagues – Our success depends on our ability to bring to our clients the most accomplished and aspiring talent in the industry. We provide our colleagues with meaningful long-term careers across our base of full-time (the majority), part-time and seasonal/temporary colleagues to meet the specific needs of our various businesses.

The number of colleagues by segment as of December 31, 2025 is approximated below:

December 31, 2025
Health, Wealth & Career23,100
Risk & Broking16,800
Corporate and Other7,000
Total Colleagues46,900

The number of colleagues by geography as of December 31, 2025 is approximated below:

December 31, 2025
North America12,300
Europe15,300
International19,300
Total Colleagues46,900

Voluntary turnover (rolling 12-month attrition) has remained well within target range throughout 2025 (9.8% compared to 10.1% in 2024; for comparative purposes, the prior-year figure has been adjusted for a change in methodology for the seasonal colleague exclusion).

Hiring

With turnover remaining within target range, business areas are primarily focusing on targeted hiring campaigns for mid-senior level hires to support growth, future succession planning and/or as part of their location strategy.


Hiring into the Early Careers programs remained relatively stable and consistent with 2024. The focus remains on building pipelines of high caliber talent through enhanced employer branding and attraction.


Hires exceeded 6,700, a decrease of 4% as compared to 2024 (for comparative purposes, the prior-year figure has been adjusted for a change in methodology for the seasonal colleague exclusion) primarily attributable to a volume of colleagues with effective start dates in 2026.


We continue to have a strong rate of alumni returning to WTW, with rehires representing 7% of total hires in both 2025 and 2024.


Our continued focus for 2026 will be to increase our global investment in talent across sales and client-facing colleagues.

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Inclusion and Diversity (‘I&D’) – Our people strategy guides our actions to make WTW a destination employer for top talent. Our approach to building and sustaining an inclusive and high-performing culture includes a priority focus on:


Attraction and Retention – Growing the pipeline for talent with a broad range of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives.


Development and Promotion – Supporting colleagues in all stages of career development.


Culture and Brand – Promoting an inclusive culture and work environment.

Our policies, including our Code of Conduct, require that our employment decisions comply with applicable law.

Total Rewards – We invest significant resources in our most important asset, our colleagues, and having the right total rewards programs to support our colleague experience is an important part of our commitment to being the best company we can be. We offer market competitive rewards in aggregate, aligned to a pay-for-performance culture. Alongside our colleague experience, our total rewards programs position WTW as a magnet for the most accomplished and aspiring talent in the industry.

Our total rewards comprise a wide array of programs, including pay, benefits, share ownership, wellbeing, recognition, flexible working arrangements, time off, career development opportunities and other aspects of the work environment. These are intended to enhance business performance in alignment with WTW’s strategy, culture and values.

At its core, our total rewards programs are designed to:


Attract, engage, retain and develop talent with a broad range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives;


Enhance and sustain high levels of colleague performance and engagement; and


Allow for meaningful choice, where appropriate, to address individual needs.

In 2025, WTW expanded key total rewards programs, including the employee share purchase plan, to more countries. We also enhanced our global Recognition Hub platform, celebrating our colleagues’ successes, achievements and milestones to support a culture of recognition and appreciation at WTW.

Work Styles – We have a flexible and adaptable approach to where colleagues work, aligned to the distinct needs of our businesses and leveraging three distinct working solutions: office-based, hybrid and remote. This framework has flexibility at its core and is based on the principle that the work itself drives where and how the work gets done. In-office interactions are encouraged for all colleagues, with some moving to more frequent and regular in-person collaboration, including minimum in-office requirements in some areas of our business. Our flexibility continues to be a key differentiator for us in the market and is an important part of our ongoing strategy to attract, engage and retain top talent.

The failure to successfully attract and retain qualified personnel could materially adversely affect our results of operations and prospects. For more information see Part I, Item 1A Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Competition

We face competition in all fields in which we operate, based on factors including global capability, product breadth, innovation, quality of service and price. We compete with companies such as Aon plc, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., Brown & Brown Inc., Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (‘Marsh & McLennan’) and Robert Half International Inc., as well as with numerous specialty, regional and local firms.

Competition on premium rates has also exacerbated the pressures caused by a continuing reduction in demand in some classes of business. For example, rather than purchase additional insurance through brokers, some insureds have been retaining a greater proportion of their risk portfolios than previously. Industrial and commercial companies increasingly rely upon their own subsidiary insurance companies, known as captive insurance companies, self-insurance pools, risk retention groups, mutual insurance companies and other mechanisms for funding their risks, rather than buy insurance. Additional competitive pressures have arisen and are expected to continue to arise from the entry and expansion of new market participants, such as banks, accounting firms, new brokers and insurance carriers themselves, offering risk management or transfer services.

The human capital and risk management consulting industries are highly competitive. We believe we have developed competitive advantages in providing HR consulting and risk management consulting services. We face strong competition from numerous sources, including from large consulting firms, accounting firms and specialized firms focused on these services as further identified below. See Part I, Item 1A Risk Factors – ‘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

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substantially and negatively affect us’, for a description of competition-related risks that may affect demand for the Company’s services.

Our largest competitors in the pension consulting industry are Mercer HR Consulting (a Marsh & McLennan company) and Aon plc. In addition, we face vigorous competition from numerous other companies in the global HR consulting industry.

Our major competitors in the insurance consulting and software industry include Milliman, Oliver Wyman (a Marsh & McLennan company), the big four accounting firms (Deloitte LLP, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and KPMG), and SunGard. Aon plc, Mercer (a Marsh & McLennan company), Automatic Data Processing and Fidelity are among our largest competitors in the insurance exchange industry. We also compete with the public health insurance exchanges currently run by the U.S. federal and state governments, as well as providers of account-based health plans and consumer-directed benefits such as WageWorks and HealthEquity.

The market for our services is subject to change as a result of economic, regulatory and legislative changes, technological developments and increased competition from established and new competitors. Regulatory and legislative actions, along with continuously evolving technological developments, will likely have the greatest impact on the overall market for our exchange products. See Part I, Item 1A Risk Factors – ‘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, increase our costs or limit our compensation’ and related risk factors for a description of legal, non-financial/-regulatory and compliance risks to the Company.

We believe the primary factors in selecting an HR consulting or risk management services firm include reputation; the ability to provide measurable increases to shareholder value and return on investment; geographic scope; quality of service; innovative ideas; and the ability to tailor services to clients’ unique needs.

With regard to the marketplace for active employee 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, a strong reputation for efficient execution, a provider’s capability in delivering a broad number of configurations to serve various population segments and an innovative service delivery model and platform.

For our traditional consulting and risk management services and the rapidly evolving exchange products, we believe we compete favorably with respect to these factors.

Regulation

Our business activities are subject to legal requirements and governmental and quasi-governmental regulatory supervision in all countries in which we operate. Also, such regulations may require individual or company licensing to conduct our business activities. While these requirements may vary from location to location, they are generally designed to protect our clients by establishing minimum standards of conduct and practice, particularly regarding the provision of advice and product information, as well as financial criteria. We are also subject to data privacy regulations that apply to health, medical, financial and other types of personal information belonging to our employees, clients and their employees and other third parties across most jurisdictions, including, among others, the E.U. and U.K. General Data Protection Regulations, the Personal Information Protection Law (‘PIPL’) in China and privacy legislation in certain U.S. states, including the California Privacy Rights Act (‘CPRA’). Sustainable investing and environmental, social and governance initiatives continue to be the focus of increased regulatory scrutiny across jurisdictions, with emerging regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and disclosures of their impact on the climate, including in the state of California and the E.U. Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and other regulations across the E.U. Across many jurisdictions we are subject to various financial crime laws and regulations through our activities, activities of associated persons, the products and services we provide and our business and client relationships. Such laws and regulations relate to, among other areas, sanctions and export control, anti-bribery, anti-corruption, fraud, anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist financing. Similarly, we are subject in many jurisdictions to antitrust laws, which are designed to promote robust competition in the markets in which we participate.

Our most significant regulatory regions are further described below:

United States

Our activities in connection with insurance brokerage services within the U.S. are subject to regulation and supervision by state authorities. Although the scope of regulation and form of supervision may vary from state to state, insurance laws in the United States 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 states in which we currently operate is dependent upon our compliance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the regulatory authorities in each of

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these states. See Part I, Item 1A Risk Factors under the heading ‘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, increase our costs or limit our compensation’ for a description of the risks related to our private exchange activities.

Furthermore, certain of our activities are subject to regulation under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (‘HIPAA’), which is enforced by the Office for Civil Rights within the Department of Health and Human Services. As we implement and expand our direct-to-consumer sales and marketing solutions through our Benefits Delivery & Outsourcing 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).

Certain of our activities are governed by other regulatory bodies, such as investment and securities licensing authorities. Our activities in connection with investment services within the United States are subject to regulation and supervision at both the federal and state levels. At the federal level, certain of our operating subsidiaries are regulated by the SEC through the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers’ Act of 1940 and by the Department of Labor through the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA. In connection with the SEC regulations, we are required to file certain reports, and are subject to various marketing restrictions, among other requirements. In connection with ERISA regulations, we are limited in the actions we can take for plans for which we serve as fiduciaries, among other matters. Our U.S. investment activities are also subject to certain state regulatory schemes, and some activities also are subject to regulation by the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission under the Commodities Exchange Act.

Our activities in connection with Third Party Administrator (‘TPA’) services in the United States are also subject to regulation and supervision by many state authorities. Licensing requirements and supervision vary from state to state. As with insurance brokerage services, our continuing ability to provide these services in states that regulate our activities is dependent upon our compliance with the rules and regulations promulgated from time to time by the regulatory authorities in each of these states.

United Kingdom

In the U.K., our business is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’).

The FCA’s primary strategic objective is to ensure that the relevant financial services market functions efficiently and effectively. Its strategic priorities are to be a smarter regulator; to support growth; to help consumers navigate their financial lives; and to fight financial crime. The FCA has a wide range of rule-making, investigatory and enforcement powers (including the power to censure and fine) and conducts monitoring visits to assess our compliance with regulatory requirements. In addition, the FCA extended the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (‘SMCR’) which became effective on December 9, 2019 in relation to our U.K. FCA-regulated businesses. The SMCR is designed to drive improvements in culture and governance within financial services firms and to deter misconduct by increasing individual accountability to the FCA.

New regulations and modifications to existing regulations that are specific to the U.K. have and will continue to result in differences from the regulatory requirements of the E.U. See Part I, Item 1A Risk Factors, for a description of Brexit-related risks to the Company.

Furthermore, as a result of Brexit, the WTW Brexit broking solution (the U.K. branch of Willis Towers Watson SA/NV) was fully authorized by the FCA as a third-country branch. The branch is subject to requirements in key areas such as SMCR and is also subject to the supervisory oversight of the Belgian Financial Services & Markets Authority.

European Union

In 2005, the European Union Insurance Mediation Directive introduced rules to enable insurance and reinsurance intermediaries to operate and provide services within each member state of the E.U. on a basis consistent with the E.U. single market and customer protection aims. Each E.U. member state in which we operate is required to ensure that the insurance and reinsurance intermediaries resident in their country are registered with a statutory body in that country and that each intermediary meets professional requirements in relation to their competence, good repute, professional indemnity cover and financial capacity. The E.U. issued an additional Insurance Distribution Directive that expands the 2005 directive, and all E.U. member states in which we operate were required to enact the directive and adopt local country laws by October 1, 2018.

Certain of our entities that undertake pension scheme management are subject to MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive) and MiFIR (the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation). In addition, revisions to MiFID (‘MiFID II’) took effect in January 2018. These revisions are aimed at strengthening investor protection and improving the function of financial markets. MiFID II imposes a variety of requirements that include, among others, rules relating to product governance and independent investment advice,

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responsibility of management bodies, inducements, information and reporting to clients, cross-selling, remuneration of staff, and best execution of trades for clients. Further, some of our entities are also authorized and regulated by certain financial services authorities in countries such as Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands and the U.K.

Other

All companies carrying on similar activities discussed above in a given jurisdiction are subject to regulations which are not dissimilar to the requirements for our operations in the U.S. and U.K. We do not consider these regulatory requirements as adversely affecting our competitive position.

Our failure, or that of our employees, to satisfy the regulatory compliance requirements or the legal requirements governing our activities, can result in disciplinary action, fines, reputational damage and financial harm.

See Part I, Item 1A Risk Factors, for an analysis of how actions by regulatory authorities or changes in legislation and regulation as well as compliance with evolving laws, including with respect to data privacy and cybersecurity, in the jurisdictions in which we operate may have an adverse effect on our business.

Information about Executive Officers of the Registrant

The executive officers of the Company as of February 25, 2026 were as follows:

Kristy D. Banas (age 53) - Ms. Banas has served as Chief Human Resources Officer and Head of Marketing and Communications since May 1, 2023. Prior to that, she served as Chief Human Resources Officer from August 16, 2021. She also served as the Managing Director, Global Talent Advisor for Human Capital & Benefits from March 2019 to August 2021 and as Senior Director and Head of Global Total Rewards, HR Integration and the HR Business Office from November 2016 to March 2019. From January 2016 to November 2016, Ms. Banas served as Senior Director and Global HR Leader, WTW Operations and Technology. From July 2011 to January 2016, Ms. Banas served as Senior Vice President, Global HR Director for WTW Corporate Functions, and was the Executive HR Sponsor for Global Operations Improvement. Ms. Banas was Vice President and Global HR Partner with XL Capital/XL Global Services/XL Insurance from November 2001 to June 2011. Ms. Banas has a BS in Business Management from Fairfield University and a partial MS in Human Resource Management from the University of Connecticut.

Lucy Clarke (age 59) - Ms. Clarke has served as the President of Risk & Broking at WTW since July 22, 2024. Previously, she served as President of Marsh JLT Specialty and Global Placement from April 2019 to July 2024. Prior to that, Ms. Clarke was with JLT Group for 17 years, holding diverse leadership roles, including CEO of JLT Global Specialty, the insurance and risk arm of the JLT Group, from April 2018 to April 2019. Ms. Clarke is a past President of the Insurance Institute of London. She holds a bachelor's degree in English and economics from Vanderbilt University.

Alexis Faber (age 48) - Ms. Faber has served as Chief Operating Officer at WTW since August 30, 2021. Previously, she served as Chief Operating Officer for Corporate Risk & Broking from March 2018 to August 2021. Prior to that, Ms. Faber served as Global Head of Financial Lines since January 2016, Head of FINEX for North America since April 2014, Risk Control and Claim Advocacy Practice Leader for North America since July 2012, Chief Operating Officer for Willis North America since August 2009 and as Chief Operating Officer for the Executive Risks practice since September 2006. Prior to that, Ms. Faber served as Regional Finance Officer for North America since July 2004, and as Financial and Operations Controller for Global Specialties, North America since August 2003. Before joining WTW, Ms. Faber worked in investment banking at Schroder Salomon Smith Barney and at Citigroup. Ms. Faber holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Williams College and an M.B.A from Columbia Business School.

Matthew S. Furman (age 56) - Mr. Furman has served as General Counsel at WTW 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 Treasurer and as a Trustee of the Jewish Theological Seminary and as a Director of the Legal Aid Society. He previously served as 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 magna cum laude from Brown University and a law degree magna cum laude from Harvard Law School.

Julie J. Gebauer (age 64) - Ms. Gebauer has served as President of Health, Wealth and Career at WTW since January 1, 2022. Previously, Ms. Gebauer served as Head of Human Capital & Benefits at WTW since January 4, 2016 and, prior to that, 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

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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.

Carl A. Hess (age 64) - Mr. Hess has served as Chief Executive Officer at WTW since January 1, 2022 and, prior to that, served as President since August 16, 2021. Mr. Hess was formerly Head of Investment, Risk and Reinsurance from October 27, 2016 to August 16, 2021. Previously, Mr. Hess served as the Co-Head of North America at WTW 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.

Andrew J. Krasner (age 50) - Mr. Krasner has served as Chief Financial Officer at WTW since September 7, 2021 and co-head of Corporate Development since October 25, 2024. From February 2021 to August 2021, Mr. Krasner served as Chief Financial Officer for Assured Partners. From June 2018 to January 2021, Mr. Krasner was Global Treasurer and Head of M&A of WTW, and from 2012 to June 2018, was Head of M&A, responsible for the M&A, joint venture, divestiture, and strategic investment activity. Mr. Krasner started with Willis in June 2009 as Senior Vice President, working on the client side with Willis Capital Markets & Advisory between June 2009 to June 2012. Prior to joining WTW, Mr. Krasner was a Principal with Banc of America Securities from October 2003 to June 2009, an Associate with Deutsche Bank from July 2002 to October 2003 and a Senior Associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers from August 1997 to August 2000. Mr. Krasner has a B.S. degree in applied economics and business management and an M.B.A. with distinction from Cornell University. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Anne Pullum (age 43) - Ms. Pullum has served as co-head of Corporate Development at WTW since October 25, 2024 and Global Head of Health & Benefits since July 1, 2025. Prior to that, Ms. Pullum served as Head of Europe from August 30, 2021 to September 30, 2025, Head of Western Europe from May 31, 2019 to August 30, 2021 and as the Chief Administrative Officer and Head of Strategy and Innovation since October 27, 2016. Beginning on January 4, 2016, Ms. Pullum served as WTW’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.

Imran Qureshi (age 55) - Mr. Qureshi has served as Global Head of Retirement at WTW since April 2, 2025 and Global Head of Geographies since November 3, 2025. Prior to that, Mr. Qureshi served as Head of North America from August 2021 to September 2025, Head of Integrated & Global Solutions from June 2023 to March 2025 and Co-Leader, U.S. from February 2017 to August 30, 2021. He served as Region Leader, U.S. Midwest from February 2017 to October 2019, and was Market Leader, Greater Chicago and Wisconsin from February 2016 to February 2017. Mr. Qureshi was Managing Consultant of the Chicago office from January 2013 to January 2016, and has been with WTW in other roles since March 1999. Mr. Qureshi is currently a board director at Smithbucklin and The Executives' Club of Chicago. Previously, he was the board chair of the Human Resources Management Association of Chicago, and he served on the M&A Faculty of WorldatWork where he taught M&A and taught the International Benefits Course for the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. In 2004, Mr. Qureshi was honored by Business Insurance magazine as one of ‘40 Under 40 People to Watch’ in the commercial insurance and risk/benefits management services industries. He also has lectured on governance and globalization at The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Mr. Qureshi holds a bachelor’s degree in pure mathematics and statistics with honors from the University of Manchester in the U.K. and has an actuarial background.

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Board of Directors

A list of the members of the board of directors of the Company as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and their principal occupations are provided below: