Staff in AIG's Irish operation 'unaffected' by changes

The Irish operations and 400 staff of American International Group will not be affected by the sell-off of units following its…

The Irish operations and 400 staff of American International Group will not be affected by the sell-off of units following its bailout by the Federal Reserve.

Today the insurer said it planned to focus on its property, casualty and foreign general insurance businesses and as a result "the Irish AIG general insurance business is unaffected and will continue to operate as usual", a company spokesman said.

AIG plans to sell its remaining businesses and is working on alternatives for its financial products business and its securities lending program to help repay up to $85 billion in borrowings from the federal government.

"We have already been contacted by numerous strong, stable parties, and we expect that buyers will recognize the value of these properties," AIG chairman and chief executive officer Edward Liddy said in a statement.

"Our goal is to emerge from this process as a smaller but more nimble company."

The firm's worldwide property and casualty businesses generated close to $40 billion in revenues in 2007.

AIG said it had drawn $61 billion on the Federal Reserve facility as of September 30th.

Once the world's largest insurer, AIG accepted a federal bailout on September 16th after losses in a financial products unit drove it to the brink of collapse. The deal carries heavy interest and fees, and must be repaid within two years.

AIG also suspended dividends on its common stock.

The insurer, at the end of 2007, had 116,000 employees in operations throughout 130 countries and territories.

Additional reporting Reuters

David Labanyi

David Labanyi

David Labanyi is the Head of Audience with The Irish Times