Marsh & McLennan, the embattled insurance broker facing charges of bid rigging, could face a settlement of more than $500m (€392m) according to comments by Eliot Spitzer, the New York state attorney general who launched a civil suit against the firm two weeks ago.

Of speculation that the settlement could cost Marsh & McLennan $500m, Spitzer told Associated Press: "The number I saw in the paper is not one that I have heard.