AIG Crisis – Local AIG Offices
September 19, 2008, filed under News and Rumors
These are the happenings in the local branches of AIG though out the world:
Head of AIG Singapore Unit Resigns
The head of the Singapore subsidiary of troubled global insurance giant American International Group (AIG) has resigned, the company said in a statement.
It said late Thursday Mark O’Dell’s departure was “in no way related to the recent developments at AIG,” whose Singapore subsidiary has been thronged by hundreds of anxious policyholders worried over the future of the parent company.
A statement from American International Assurance Company Limited (AIA) said O’Dell had resigned and taken immediate leave of absence from his position as executive vice-president and general manager of AIA Singapore.
“It is a personal decision that he has been planning for some time,” the statement said.
Effective Friday, Kenneth Juneau will lead the company until a new general manager is found, the statement said. Juneau is executive vice president and senior regional life executive of AIA’s regional office.
O’Dell resigned on the same day he took out a full-page newspaper advertisement to reassure AIA’s customers about the company.
Despite short-term liquidity pressures at AIG, the Singapore unit is a “strong, well-positioned business,” O’Dell wrote in the advertisement.
Local newspapers reported that O’Dell will join a rival company.
Hundreds of customers lined up outside the AIA Singapore offices this week, hoping to terminate their policies or to seek answers after the US Federal Reserve announced a bailout of AIG.
On Friday the queues had gone, and only a few dozen people were inside the customer service area. A staff member said some were making inquiries, others hoped to cancel their policies, and some wanted to reinstate them.
The US government will give an unprecedented loan of up to 85 billion dollars to AIG in a bid to avert its collapse and a global financial calamity.
Business as Usual for AIG Vietnam
Jamie Rains, AIG’s senior vice president and chief agency officer in Southeast Asia, said customers should not believe rumors but should seek out expert opinions.
Local division of troubled US insurer meets all Vietnamese Ministry of Finance requirements, executive says.
The Vietnamese arm of troubled US insurer American International Group (AIG) Thursday moved to reassure customers the financial woes of the parent company would not affect the operations of the local business.
But some customers of AIG’s Vietnamese subsidiary are taking no risks, canceling contracts and asking for refunds.
N.H., a customer in Ho Chi Minh City who wished to be unnamed, said she had signed a contract with AIG Vietnam only a week ago but now she wanted to cancel it.
“I’m an accountant and of course I have thought about it carefully,” she said. “I just want to feel safe.”
Customer Thu Lan said she planned to call her insurance agent so she could make some decisions about her five contracts.
Jamie Rains, AIG’s senior vice president and chief agency officer for
Southeast Asia, Thursday told Thanh Nien that after news broke that AIG was having financial difficulties in the US, AIG Vietnam clients began calling the company to find out more about the situation.
Customers felt more secure after they heard the US Federal Reserve agreed to lend up to US$85 billion to AIG for two years, he said.
However, some of the customers were too worried and had decided to terminate their contracts with AIG Vietnam, he said. This kind of thing was normal in the insurance business, he said.
AIG has invested VND920 billion ($54.9 million)
Throngs at AIG Office – Singapore
FOR the third day hundreds of anxious policyholders lined up in the hot sun outside the Singapore offices of global insurance giant American International Group (AIG) on Thursday, despite a US government bailout of the firm.
Hundreds more – some vowing to terminate their policies – were already inside the offices of AIG and its wholly-owned subsidiary, American International Assurance Company Limited (AIA). They had returned after lining up on Wednesday without getting served.
Many in the crowd were unmoved by an announcement from the US Federal Reserve that the United States government would give an unprecedented loan of up to US$85 billion (S$122 billion) to AIG in a bid to avert a global financial calamity.
‘I don’t have any more confidence in this company,’ a woman who gave her name as Annie said after surrendering her two policies. She said the Fed’s move made no difference to her decision.
‘I’m a bit apprehensive’ about the company’s future despite the bailout,’ said another woman. The retiree, who declined to give her name, said she decided to liquidate her policy because the potential return was not large enough to justify the risk.
‘If my calculation is correct, I will break even’ by cancelling the policy, she said.
An agitated businessman, Mr Chan Foo Choong, also lined up to liquidate his family’s policies.
‘If anything happens, will you pay me?’ he asked an AFP reporter.
Others among the queue were simply seeking answers.
One AIA staff member said employees worked until after midnight to deal with inquiries from the hundreds who thronged the office on Wednesday.
After lining up to take numbers for service on Thursday, members of the crowd dispersed to pass the time until they were called inside.
Staff said they gave out 500 numbers on Thursday before more people lined up to collect numbers for Friday.
An AIA spokeswoman could not say how many customers in Singapore had cancelled their policies.
In Hong Kong, AIG’s subsidiary said on Thursday that more than 2,000 policies had been terminated by customers who feared a collapse. That number was small considering the company had written 2.2 million policies for 1.3 million customers, said Mr Derek Yung, senior vice-president and general manager of AIA for Hong Kong and Macau.
The company said it would waive re-admission charges and a health declaration requirement in a bid to woo customers back.
In Taipei on Wednesday, more than 1,200 customers descended
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