Johnson & Higgins was one of the largest brokerage firm

Brokerage firm

A brokerage firm, or simply brokerage or broker in context, is a financial institution that facilitates the buying and selling of financial derivatives between a buyer and a seller...

s in the world until it sold out to Marsh & McLennan in 1997.

History

Initially founded in 1845 as Jones & Johnson by Walter Restored Jones, Jr. and Henry Ward Johnson, the company acquired its new name in 1854 when A. Foster Higgins replaced Jones who left to do business on his own. By the 1990s, the company transitioned itself from an established broker of marine and other insurance policies to a provider of a full range of insurance consulting services.