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In August 2007 he said it was hard to see a scenario "within any kind of realm of reason" in which AIG would lose a single dollar.

The Fed said the loan was expected to be repaid by the proceeds of selling AIG operating companies.

But first, he said, he had a few words to say about AIG.

Broad said he no longer was investing in insurance, and had more or less put AIG out of mind.

As a collateral benefit, the U. S. Treasury would save a great deal of money on its exposure to AIG.

"Renaming AIG Tower sends a subtle but important signal that AIA is charting its own course, " said one person familiar with the matter.

But there's yet another complication that will probably force A. I. G. to cough up cash more quickly than it otherwise might have had to.

How much money has gone to counterparties since the company's collapse?

The complaint said he "knew or recklessly disregarded that AIG's accounting was not in conformity" .

However, it is essential for AIG to determine how it will operate in the future and how much earnings potential it will have.

The stakes are just as high for AIG, and for America's Treasury and Federal Reserve, to which it owes $132 billion.

AIG is selling off the business as part of an ambitious restructuring it has had to undertake to pay off an $85 billion government loan.

AIG's bonuses prompted fury from the White House downwards, with critics blasting it as an indefensible case of rewarding failure.

Mr. Paulson said he had to convince a reluctant Mr. Bush that saving AIG was the right decision.

No doubt many participants will be at pains to stress how much progress has been made over the past year in response to the AIG shock.

It would have been risky in the extreme to allow Citigroup to follow Lehman Brothers into capitalism's graveyard, or to let AIG collapse.

AIG created a false sense of security via credit default swaps that was as it turned out completely unjustified by reality.

All last week I kept trying to understand what was going on with AIG, Lehman, Goldman and the other banks.

A Goldman Sachs spokesman declined to comment on the AIG bailout or how much of the government funds it has received.

The company declined to speculate on how much asset sales have raised so far.

We learned from the disaster at AIG that you can't build a moat around the big banks and call it a day.

Wall Street did not even bother to rally after the AIG deal as it had after previous government interventions.

In its first year, AIG's attempt to sell its Taiwanese insurance arm was imbued with a sense of urgency.

AIG's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, as well as the stock exchanges in London, Paris, Switzerland and Tokyo.

As you know, business unit sales like this are crucial to A. I. G. 's effort to repay the American taxpayer.

Rep. Towns said the House committee wants to ask Mr. Greenberg what went wrong at AIG that led to the bailout.

The panic led to the need to bail out the American International Group, for instance, which had C. D. S. contracts with many large banks.

An aircraft-leasing unit that was valuable to AIG when it had a high credit rating but has been a drag ever since will be offloaded, too.

Meanwhile, New York's top legal officer vowed to take AIG to court if it did not provide full details of the bonus payments.

Robert Benmosche, AIG's chief executive, told the Financial Times this week that the listing of AIA was one of his top priorities.

Goldman said that it had "no material exposure" to AIG, that it held cash collateral as well as hedged positions.

He said the bonus agreements were put in place well before AIG fell into trouble.

The banks that wrapped senior debt tranches with AIG did not have to set aside so much regulatory capital.

And he just might be the man to get some sort of return out of AIG.

In contrast to the Pru, Aviva has ruled itself out of the race for parts of AIG, declaring any assets would be "grossly overvalued" .

AIG's executives did not know how big the insurer's balance-sheet hole was, and sometimes did not seem to care.

Hence, some analysts think the US government will eventually nationalise parts of the financial system, as it has started to do with AIG.

The company had sought to sell off major assets to help repay the United States. But it has struggled to find buyers willing to pay enough.

Mr. Greenberg said the amount of exposure AIG faced under the contracts when he left was beside the point.

But so far the company has announced just one deal: selling its stake in the London City Airport for an undisclosed price.

Painstakingly built over the course of 40 years by an army veteran, Hank Greenberg, AIG was the ideal counterparty for Wall Street.

AIG executives were meeting with regulators to see if they could transfer capital from some of its subsidiaries to the holding company.

'Let me be clear: AIG's business model did not fail -- its management did.

Many Prudential shareholders are relieved at the collapse of the company's attempt to buy the Asian operations of American insurer AIG.

The name AIG may still be synonymous with everything that went wrong a year ago, but it's FDIC insured -- and yields 1. 75%.

The company has disclosed that it had raised $6. 7bn from asset sales since last September.

By contrast, he said, Bear Stearns and A. I. G. had more trustworthy collateral.

Seeking to reassure the Treasury Secretary, AIG's Liddy said the company would reduce its bonuses in 2009 by 30 percent.

Mr. Willumstad says Mr. Buffett 'basically said the company was too complicated. '

Prior to his employment with Ping An, Mr. Lam was an Associate Director of AIG Global Real Estate Investment (Asia) L. L.

'The company is in a much stronger position today to repay the government, and that's in all of our interests, ' a Treasury spokesman said.

Goldman Sachs faced mounting pressure yesterday following the disclosure it had received almost $13bn as part of the AIG bail-out.

AIG executives spent the weekend trying to raise cash, either from asset sales or a capital infusion from private-equity firms, or both.

Now the Obama administration must regard AIG as more of an operating business, directly protecting the company's profitability and assets.

Although the insurer has warned investors in regulatory filings of the dilution, the company might try to cushion the blow.

AIG also is trying to sell assets outright, and Mr. Benmosche's deal experience could prove useful.

Informed that they were mandated by contracts, Mr. Bernanke said he 'then asked that suit be filed to prevent the payments. '

A second vehicle would be set up to solve the liquidity problems in AIG's securities-lending business.

AIG was considered a weighty and utterly reliable market player, and like JP Morgan, it basked in the sun of a triple-A credit rating.

Since becoming a ward of the state, giant insurer American International Group Inc. has had a powerful ally: the U. S. government.

AIG particularly irked me, but had it gone under as the largest insurance company, the world may well have been thrown into a depression.

AIG would not comment yesterday beyond its statement that it would proceed with an initial public offering of AIA "as soon as praticable" .

Officials also wanted to directly address the parts of AIG's business that were causing the most financial pain to the company.

AIG said Saturday it had agreed to sell a major asset-management unit to Mr. Li's private investment vehicle, Pacific Century Group. Mr.

It hopes to sell the remainder of its stake, now reduced to around 77%, over the next two years.

However, it is reported that American insurance firm AIG are the company to have won the race to sponsor United.

If AIG had shot off its own metaphorical foot to claim a government bail-out, the argument against the bail-out would be compelling.

A spokesman for the Connecticut Working Families Party declined to say which AIG executives would be visited on the tour.

The auto workers are being asked to tone - to turn back some of what they're making. I think the same question can be asked of AIG.

AIG has received more public funds to stay afloat than any other firm, with the government owning an 80%-stake in the company.

More important, he knew that, as an insurance company, AIG was not subject to the same burdensome rules on capital reserves as banks.

AIG will use proceeds from the sale of shares, part of a series of divestments, to repay some of the bail-out money it has received.

'AIG has lost luster given its global divestitures -- but it is clearly still an important and prominent company, ' he said.

They are now angry about having been misled by A. I. G. 's promises and are not inclined to return the money as a favor to you.

With a triple A rating, AIG was an attractive counterparty for swap transactions.

"AIG's results . . . were negatively affected by continued severe credit market deterioration, particularly in CMBS, " the company said.

Would that be enough to guarantee that it could resolve the next AIG-style crisis?

It would also save the U. S. Treasury a lot of money by reducing the loss on AIG's outstanding positions without abrogating any contracts.

He maintained that AIG needed to meet its obligations to prevent a default that he said would cause 'chaos in financial markets.

The decision to downgrade AIG (AIG) amid the financial crisis is a perfect example of a rating action having a real and disastrous impact.

The hope is still that as markets recover, AIG can sell the crown jewels of its insurance business at a premium to book value.

AIG might sell its Asian arm to another insurance firm; Prudential was not the only bidder.

Two Democratic Congressmen plan to ask the SEC to investigate dealings between Goldman and AIG.

Had they gone bankrupt, the world would not have come to an end, it would just continue on with one less engine of wealth destruction.

HAVING twice botched the sale of AIA, AIG's valuable Asian life-insurance arm, America's Treasury was not about to screw up a third time.

This week, AIG released new data that might help investors assess the extent to which Goldman protected itself.

The AIG rescue later that week did not stem the panic, and neither would have Lehman's survival.

On January 27th he had to defend himself in a testy congressional hearing on AIG.

AIG is no stranger to controversy, nor is it the only publicly rescued company to give bonuses while being bailed out of financial ruin .

The company was set up 10 years ago, since when it has been gathering third-party assets, now up to $88bn.

During the three-hour meeting, board members discussed difficulties of complying with pay policies and retaining talent at the company.

Apart from that little difficulty, he suggests, AIG had no credit problems and was in a solid condition.

An AIG spokesman said if any potential buyers need more time, 'we're prepared to work with bidders.

The company has just purchased American Life Insurance (Alico) from American International Group (AIG, news, msgs).

The most notable example was AIG's two-year attempt to sell Nan Shan, its Taiwan subsidiary, which is only now nearing completion.

And wouldn't you, as AIG is effectively nationalized six months later, threaten to leave unless you are compensated to stay?

The US government owns 80 per cent of AIG after bailing it out in September 2008.

If the assets increase in value or pay off over time, the Fed and AIG will share the benefits, with most of the upside going to taxpayers.

Or they could bail it out, rewarding creditors and counter parties at the expense of taxpayers (AIG).

Six years later, AIG, the largest US insurance company, has in effect been nationalised to stop it blowing up the financial world.

But the roots of AIG's implosion can be traced back to its unique history and idiosyncratic structure.

'We had a thorough and comprehensive information memorandum that contained information that was current as can be, ' an AIG spokesman said.

This should allow the insurer to meet its obligations until it is able to sell off some of the assets on its $1, 000bn balance sheet.

"USA Today" front-page picture described AIG trademarks are throwing tomatoes, which are a reflection of the American people furious.

But with the checks already out, the most leverage the White House may have will likely come when AIG comes back for more money.

AIG is listed as a nominal defendant in the suits, which also seek damages for the company.

Still, he said a collapse of AIG would have wreaked havoc on the global economy.

The word "irresponsible" does not begin to describe AIG's behaviour.

Dubai may not be the next Lehman or AIG, but it could offer up some nasty surprises for the world's banking system.

The firm denied that it had engaged in aggressive pricing.

He added the row put congressional approval for such a request in doubt, and endangered economic recovery.

Good evening. Angry about the millions and millions of dollars paid out in bonuses by the insurance giant AIG? Well, get in line.

If Leno had a bone to pick, it was with federal efforts to tax the AIG bonuses out of existence.

By some estimates more than $12 billion flowed from AIG to Deutsche Bank in collateral as a result of these policies.

One of the best sections comes after Lehman's bankruptcy and AIG's takeover, as other firms struggle for survival.

Each AIG share today used to be 20 shares before the company's near-collapse.

There was an issue in 2005, he concedes, when AIG suffered well-publicised accounting problems.

Criss-crossing OTCs have grown into a jungle where companies, such as AIG, were able to use derivatives to avoid capital requirements.

At the time of the Fed intervention, the value of the CDOs insured by AIG was falling dramatically and AIG was facing a credit downgrade.

This had led to claims that AIG's rescue was a "backdoor bail-out" of big banks.

AIG will hope that the money reduces official meddling in its pay practices and operations.

That's improved from a year earlier but weaker than analysts expected.

The insurance contracts that made AIG so entwined with the banking system were designed to help banks boost their capital ratios.

The company blamed "restructuring and market disruption charges and accounting charges related to taxes" for its performance.

Details of the revised deal could be announced as soon as Monday -- when the company is expected to report third-quarter earnings.

It's hard for me to believe that anyone who works at AIG who can take a bonus can sleep at night.

Fred Geissinger was the head of an AIG subsidiary that offered mortgages, among other products.

If you think the executives at AIG have it rough (whether they deserve it or not), try being rich in China.

He has told close associates he sees this as his chance to save the company and his own standing.

Mr. Greenberg stepped down from AIG in 2005 as the company came under investigation for its accounting practices.

American International Group decided to float a 58% stake in its Asian insurance unit after a sale to Britain's Prudential fell apart.

And market pressures forced the Federal Reserve into a huge $85bn takeover of AIG, our largest insurer, to avert its bankruptcy.

"How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat? " Obama asked, referring to AIG's management.

Vanney Cho, a spokesman at Chinatrust, today declined to comment on whether the company will approach AIG.

I am not holding my breath but without it no government can be sure, however enormous its domestic powers, of solving the next AIG.

Earlier this month Liddy said AIG was in advanced talks with one potential buyer for part of its U. S. personal lines unit.

People close to potential bidders also say that AIG has been slow to market the business, hindering the sales effort.

Several AIG assets sold so far have ended up fetching less than book value.

AIG had a vast business in credit default swaps and therefore a huge exposure to a residential mortgage crisis.

A new bidder could push for a lower price, potentially costing AIG a few hundred million dollars.

Last time round American International Group became the dumping ground for Wall Street's risk and had to be bailed out too.

However, AIG and its masters in the US government hope to raise at least $30bn.

One clear lesson of the AIG meltdown is that a financial services company should not be allowed to choose its own regulator, as AIG did.

President Obama called the AIG bonus es " outrageous , " and said they are a symptom of an " outrageous " corporate culture.

AIG is listing AIA in a bid to repay some of the bail-out money it owes the government, having failed to sell its Asian unit to Prudential.

The state will then be forced to make huge loans to dodgy firms, as was the case with AIG and Royal Bank of Scotland.

S. and has the most extensive worldwide property-casualty and life insurance networks of any insurer.

'Coming into AIG we had, basically, duct tape and string, ' he said.

But from the perspective of the U. S. taxpayers that bailed out AIG, every hundred million dollars counts.

AIG's own credit spreads implied that the company was headed for default (see chart).

The money being returned amounts to $30m out of the bonus scheme's total payout of $165m.

So far, AIG has reached deals for a dozen businesses, raising more than $4 billion.

Roman Cizdyn, analyst at Blue Oar Securities, says AIG is likely to be "an early port of call, particularly in the region" .

Indeed, even the failure of AIG would have been catastrophic -- so you can't even limit the list of systemically important firms to banks.

AIG's stakeholders, headed by the US government, may not like the answer.

The White House says President Barack Obama is working closely with Congress to find ways to block the bonuses at AIG or recoup that money.

Mr. Cuomo said his office is working both with AIG executives and with individual bonus recipients to get back money.

You might not know much about AIG, but you, the taxpayer, now own 80 percent of it.

As the value of those contracts plummeted, AIG found itself facing insolvency. And taxpayers found themselves paying the bill.

Had AIG been allowed to go bust, the swaps market might well have unravelled.

AIG said it was ''disappointed'' by the verdict and would await the court's final ruling.

Analysts believe AIG originally valued these contracts by looking to prices supplied for a pool of CDOs, among other factors.

Looking back on my time as CEO, I don't believe AIG could have done anything differently.

"If you wanted to enter a long-term swap, AIG was the name, " he says.

But it is the strategies that have been set up to invest AIG's assets that dictate what is on offer to clients.

He said Treasury also will deduct an amount equal to the payments from AIG's latest $30 billion credit line from the government.

One chilling letter called for AIG's staff and their families to be executed "with piano wire around their necks " .

Buying the assets was a measure to restore confidence among banks that had business relationships with Bear and AIG.

Bob Lewis, AIG's chief risk officer, indicated that it would take events of "Depression proportions" for AIG to suffer.

AIG's previous disposals include a majority stake in reinsurer Transatlantic Holdings Inc. , a Tokyo office tower and an equipment insurer.

His failure to get ahead of the problems at AIG follows his botched unveiling of a bank-rescue plan.

AIG is so well connected and well known that we get a wealth of information about what is going on in the world.

This culture was "innovation and entrepreneurship, and basically leveraging AIG's low cost of funding" , he says.

But AIG's development as a loose collection of companies unified only by the central figure of Mr Greenberg had drawbacks.

AIG, by losing money and maneuvering their operations to the brink of bankruptcy, was telling us that they were inefficient.

For some, the demise of AIG was not the suicide described in the book's title, but an act of murder by Goldman.

Because of AIG's dire straits, the government has invested so much bailout money that it now holds a stake of almost 80% of the company.

This time, the focus is on American International Group (AIG), one of the world's biggest insurers.

Emboldened by the outcry over AIG, Mr Geithner asked for those powers when he visited Congress last week.

The main prize is the $10bn sale of the Asian life assurance assets of American International Group, the stricken US insurer.

'I applaud all the AIG employees that are returning the bonuses, ' Mr. Cuomo said in a conference call.

After all, in 2005, when A. I. G. put many of these swaps on its books, the market value of the entire company was around $200 billion.

These bonuses were in their contract, so if you want to be upset then direct it at the people who wrote the contract (AIG).

The cash will go to repay some of the $9bn in preferred equity the Fed injected into the vehicle after one of its many bail-outs of AIG.

One person familiar with the deal said last week that AIG was considering selling as much as 50% of AIA, but no decision had been made.

There's now concern that insurance giant AIG may also be in big time for financial trouble.

While researching for this column, I ran into an ad for a money-market savings account offered by AIG Bank.

As the CDOs declined in value, AIG had to pay out cash to the CDO owners, including investment banks.

Most important, Congress needs to know how Liddy and his team plan to get taxpayers out of this mess.

Of the three firms, AIG represents their best hope, even though its credit spreads are still at levels that suggest a real risk of default.

AIG shares lost most of their value when the insurer was bailed out in September 2008 and remain well below precrisis levels.

There remains a tension at the heart of AIG's predicament.

They join more established insurers like AIG, Chubb and a cluster of syndicates at Lloyd's of London.

The plan involves a loan in return for an 80% public stake in the company.

And a continuing rebound in the markets will give AIG a shot at repaying a good chunk of taxpayer money.

AIG set the tone for the day, and then everybody kind of piled on. I definitely think people are more worried about the financial crisis.

Nor does the 50% number include any of the asset swaps done by the Federal Reserve when they bailed out Bear Stearns, AIG and others.

For the full year, AIG lost over $99 billion, more than twice the total profits of Exxon Mobil.

The rescue of AIG was justified on the grounds that letting it fail would have been catastrophic for financial markets.

Among those bailouts, critics argue, was the Fed's funneling of cash to AIG counterparties.

The treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, insisted that AIG's chief executive, Robert Willumstad, stepped down as a condition of the deal.

Come Monday, Obama demonstrated that there was something to be done: Try to shame AIG execs into turning down their "retention payments. "

AIG is looking to divest AIA to raise up to $20bn to help repay the $60bn US government loan that is keeping the group alive.

It was also too expensive: in the first year it would have cost almost as much as AIG's profits in 2006, its best year ever.

The moves follow mounting criticism of the credit derivatives world, which some regulators claim contributed to problems at AIG.

In addition to ILFC, AIG was considering selling other parts of its business, including assets related to property and casualty insurance.

Nan Shan is not part of American International Assurance, AIG's pan-Asian life insurance unit.

The plan should also open the door to private financing, to which the firm has not had access for two years.

In recent weeks AIG and its multi-billion dollar taxpayer bailout have become targets of public fury and frustration.

Of course it was AIG where Mr. Greenberg earned a world-wide reputation, serving as chief executive for almost four decades.

Benmosche, who started at AIG in August, said in the memo that the management change at AIA was needed to prepare for the division's IPO.

The apparent failure of the auction helps explain why AIG has asked the government to restructure the terms of its bailout.

"It seems he single-handedly brought AIG to its knees, " said John Sarbanes, a Democratic congressman.

Who loses if AIG goes under? -Everybody. Everybody, 'cause I think it would be a systemic failure.

Dodd-Frank forbids specific support for a single company, as was done for Bear Stearns, AIG, Citigroup and Bank of America.

The relationship between AIG and the government is proving to be a political headache for the Obama administration.

In addition, AIG companies are leading providers of retirement services, financial services and asset management around the world.

Mr Greenberg may be correct that AIG was well built (although I differ on that) but it was indisputably ablaze.

Obama, as a senator, voted against the initial bailout of AIG, the reckless insurance giant.

The authorities received the shares in exchange for repeated bail-outs of the insurer during the turmoil.

And if AIG struggles to refinance its debts, it is quite possible that the state will provide a formal guarantee.

Alternatively, China Life could join forces with another insurer seeking to pick up parts of AIG.

These contracts are performing O. K. for now, the company has said.

The settlement focuses on Mr Greenberg's alleged involvement in "numerous improper accounting transactions" that inflated AIG's results.

AIG was among the first major insurers with operations in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.

'Not material' can still be a pretty big number when you are talking about a firm the size of AIG, ' Ms. Shanley wrote.

Those fears were prompted by fury in Congress over $165 million in bonus payments made to executives at failed insurance group AIG.

Some $440 billion in credit default swaps sat on the company's books before it collapsed.

AIG came to specialise in insuring holders of what it believed were the safest CDOs, known as "super-senior" tranches (see below).

AIG's founder, a former ice-cream seller from California called Cornelius Vander Starr, had emigrated to China in search of a better future.

On Monday he allowed Lehman Brothers to fail and refused to make government funds available to save AIG.

"AIG has decided to push ahead with this listing, " said one person.

Some experts argue that AIG should have filed for Chapter 11 in September, and that bankruptcy remains the best option.

After the historic events of the past fortnight, who would bet that AIG will be the last lumbering giant to need resuscitation?

Meanwhile the chances of AIG being able to repay the loan also shrank.

More incredibly, he boasted that Uncle Sam would make a profit on the bailout of AIG ( AIG - news - people ).

Amaranth's derivative defaults had trivial systemic ripples, while those of Lehman and AIG created major shockwaves.

There were reported rumours that Treasury support for AIG would be forthcoming.

A fourth unit, comprised of AIG's other businesses and troubled assets, could also be formed.

The hearing's chairman, Paul Kanjorski, suggested that the AIG mess could force Congress to reconsider any future largesse.

Lawmakers castigated Geithner over the Obama administration's handling of AIG's bonus payouts.

AIG insiders said that the change would not affect plans to repay bail-out funds.

That deal, announced in March, looked at the time like a brilliant example of timing on AIG's part.

Before the financial crisis, the AIG subsidiary AIA Group ran one of the most exciting financial businesses in the world.

AIG shares were trading at close to $40 a few hours after the plan was announced.

In presentations to investors this year, it emphasised how thoroughly its AIG Financial Products arm assessed the risks of insuring CDOs.

AIG intends to offload up to 49 per cent of AIA, a sale which analysts predict could yield about $20bn.

Thursday's testimony will mark Mr. Greenberg's first public appearance under oath since the government's initial rescue of AIG in September.

But of greater concern to analysts was the weakness of AIG's core insurance arms.

You have been at AIG only a few years, but you are up and coming and the CDS market is white hot.