Reinsurance broker Aon Benfield said its best estimate of direct insurance losses for insurers from the alleged Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Bernard Madoff is $1.8 billion.

Stephen Mildenhall, head of Aon Benfield's Actuarial and Enterprise Risk Management practice, in a forecast released on Wednesday noted that the maximum potential exposed insurance limits are estimated to be over $6 billion, but said the range of direct insured losses will be a far smaller number--most likely somewhere between $760 million and $3.8 billion.

Putting the best estimate at $1.8 billion, Mr. Mildenhall said in a statement, "These figures represent material costs, but are not likely to have a significant impact on the insurance industry."