FITCH AND A.M. BEST DOWNGRADE A.I.G.: SCRAMBLE TO KEEP AFLOAT

Here’s tonight’s report on A.I.G. from Bloomberg.com:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= … refer=home

Clearly, parts of A.I.G. will be auctioned.

One immediate concern is whether regulatory authorities in various states will object to transfer of assets from some solvent A.I.G. subsidiaries to the parent A.I.G. It’s complicated because various types of insurance have different capital requirements.

The parent company could end up cannibalizing various subsidiaries.
Aircraft leasing? Life insurance? Property and casualty? Workers comp?

AIG writes and adjusts California workers comp under a variety of subsidiaries.

Given the complexity of A.I.G. and the number of countries and insurance products it offers, it’s hard for an outside observer to know
whether reserves for California’s workers’ comp will be prime targets to be tapped for capital to “save the parent”.

We’ll see over the next few days whether they can survive or whether the parent crashes and buzzards pick over the bones of solvent subsidiaries.

Here’s the report on today’s developments re A.I.G. just filed by the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/busin … nted=print

The Wall Street Journal recap of today’s A.I.G. developments is here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1221485 … l_coverage

Stay tuned.

Julius Young
www.boxerlaw.com
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Category: Political developments