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American International Group (AIG)

American International Group is one of the largest insurance companies in the world. It boasts over 90 million customers living in over 100 countries around the globe. The company has provided risk management and insurance services for customers for almost a hundred years.

Today the company is changing to try to meet their clients’ needs better. They are simplifying the corporate structure to be able to work more directly with their customers, to provide value and help quicker and with greater efficiency, and to offer better transparency. They are striving for greater focus, leaner operations, and higher profits.

AIG proves to be the largest commercial insurance company for both the United States and Canada. They rank as biggest nonlife insurance operation in the world based on market capitalization. Fully 98% of Fortune 500 companies, 90% of Fortune Global 500 corporations, and 96% of Fortune 1000 Companies carry their insurance products or services.

American International Group began life as the brain child and insurance project of American Cornelius Vander Starr in 1919. He established it as the AAU American Asiatic Underwriters general insurance company in Shanghai at this time. This outfit expanded throughout China and then around the world.

Each new culture and market they encountered helped them to broaden their concept of risk and the means of helping to manage it for their customers. As World War II was breaking out, the company wisely relocated its headquarters from Shanghai in China to New York City. The company continued to expand successfully throughout Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe through 2008.

When the financial crisis erupted in the United States in 2008, the U.S. government had to bail out the company to save it from collapse. Edward M. Liddy was appointed as Chairman of AIG in order to navigate it through the chaotic and troubled operating environment and company era. By 2012, AIG had succeeded in restructuring the company. They also repaid all of the aid and loans from the U.S. government with profits that year, re-launched their damaged brand, and restored their reputation.

AIG boasts a number of impressive accomplishments in the intervening years since emerging from the financial crisis. They have once again become a market leader for aiding families in safeguarding their financial futures. They are the number one ranked fixed rate deferred annuity providers. AIG is among the biggest sellers of group retirement plans as well. In a number of countries throughout the globe, the outfit is a personal insurance policy leader. Nearly half of the wealthiest Americans (as measured by the Forbes 400 Richest Americans) choose AIG for their nonlife insurance needs.

AIG has won and continues to win numerous awards for their performance, service, and products. In 2016 they were honored with the top spot at the Business Insurance Innovation Awards. This is a position that they or one of their companies have successfully held for 7 years in a row. They won three honors at the Travvy Awards in 2016. They also earned a third year in a row place on the Diversity Inc. 25 Noteworthy Companies for Diversity.

AIG is also pioneering technology and data science techniques for helping to ensure their clients are better informed and safer. They have an unrivaled amount of information and expertise that they utilize to provide insights into a wide variety of sectors around the globe. These enable them to help stop losses and reap better results for the company and its customers. AIG routinely shares the exploration results of this information with governments, researchers, non government organizations, and experts in various fields.

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