Marsh Flags Moderate 2027 Pay Hikes, Launches Cyber Protect in Asia

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. MRSH, through Mercer, released its July 2026 QuickPulse U.S. Compensation Planning Survey, covering 1,001 organizations across 15 industries. The study shows employers are budgeting moderate pay increases for 2027, with average merit raises of 3.2% and total salary increases of 3.5%, broadly matching recent years.

High Tech leads merit budgets at 3.8%, followed by Banking at 3.7%, while Consumer Goods sits at 2.9%. Economic uncertainty remains a factor, with 57% of employers expecting at least a moderate impact on compensation decisions. Importantly, 87% of organizations still had preliminary budgets in July, suggesting these figures could shift as economic conditions and hiring needs evolve.

AI is becoming a regular part of compensation planning, with 70% of organizations using some level of automation, mainly for benchmarking, salary recommendations and job leveling. However, adoption is still basic (only 1% report advanced transformation), as weak data quality, governance issues and system integration are limiting broader use and preventing AI from reshaping compensation processes at scale.

The landscape will likely support demand for Mercer’s compensation benchmarking, workforce strategy and consulting services as companies weigh tighter salary budgets, talent retention and AI adoption. Marsh serves clients across 130 countries, so deeper integration of Mercer could strengthen cross-selling and broaden recurring advisory opportunities over time.

Meanwhile, Marsh and Resilience introduced Cyber Protect across Asia (excluding China), for organizations buying cyber insurance through Marsh. The service combines Marsh’s insurance and claims expertise with Resilience’s 24/7 Risk Operations Center.

It uses AI monitoring and threat hunting to scan clients’ external-facing systems for critical vulnerabilities, while specialists validate alerts and recommend fixes. The launch addresses a need: only 50% of Asian organizations feel confident managing cyber risk, versus 72% globally, while nearly three in 10 global cyber and social-engineering attacks target Asia.

MRSH’s Price Performance

Shares of Marsh have gained 2.3% year to date against the industry’s 10.9% decline.

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Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Marsh currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader insurance space are Horace Mann Educators Corporation HMN, CNO Financial Group, Inc. CNO and Assurant, Inc. AIZ, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Horace Mann Educators’ current-year earnings is pegged at $4.78 per share, which has witnessed two upward revisions over the past 30 days and no movement in the opposite direction. Furthermore, the consensus estimate for HMN’s 2026 revenues indicates a 3.9% year-over-year increase.

The consensus mark for CNO Financial’s current-year earnings is pegged at $4.74 per share, which indicates 16.2% year-over-year growth. It has witnessed one upward estimate revision against none in the opposite direction in the past 30 days. CNO beat earnings estimates in each of the last four quarters, with an average surprise of 23.2%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Assurant’s current year earnings is pegged at $22.05 per share, which indicates 11.5% year-over-year growth. It has witnessed five upward estimate revisions against none in the opposite direction in the past month. AIZ beat earnings estimates in each of the last four quarters, with an average surprise of 17.7%.

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