for other uses see aig disambiguation . american international group inc. type public traded as nyse aig s & p 500 component industry insurance financial services founded 1919 ; 97 years ago 1919 shanghai china 1 founder cornelius vander starr headquarters new york city new york united states area served worldwide key people douglas steenland non executive chairman 2 peter hancock president & ceo 3 products insurance property casualty commercial & consumer life & retirement mortgage insurance revenue us 64.4 billion 2014 4 operating income us 10.5 billion 2014 4 net income us 7.52 billion 2014 4 total assets us 515.6 billion 2014 4 total equity us 107.3 billion 2014 4 number of employees 65 000 approx . 2014 4 website www.aig.com american international group inc. also known as aig is an american multinational insurance corporation with more than 88 million customers in 130 countries . aig companies employ over 64 000 people in 90 countries . the company operates through three businesses aig property casualty aig life and retirement and united guaranty corporation ugc . aig property casualty provides insurance products for commercial institutional and individual customers . aig life and retirement provides life insurance and retirement services in the united states . ugc focuses on mortgage guaranty insurance and mortgage insurance . aig also focuses on global capital markets operations direct investment and retained interests . aig was a central player in the financial crisis of 2008 . it was bailed out by the federal government for 180 billion and the government took control . the financial crisis inquiry commission fcic of the us government concluded aig failed primarily because it sold massive amounts of insurance without hedging its investment . its enormous sales of credit default swaps were made without putting up initial collateral setting aside capital reserves or hedging its exposure a profound failure in corporate governance particularly its risk management practices . 5 aig s corporate headquarters are in new york city its europe middle east and africa emea headquarters are in london and its asian headquarters are in hong kong . the company serves 98 % of the fortune 500 companies 96 % of fortune 1000 and 90 % of fortune global 500 and insures 40 % of forbes 400 richest americans . aig was ranked 40th largest company in the 2014 fortune 500 list . 6 according to the 2014 forbes global 2000 list aig is the 42nd largest public company in the world . 7 on march 31 2015 aig had a market capitalization of 75.04 billion . 8 contents 1 history 1.1 the early years 1919 to 1945 1.2 international and domestic expansion 1946 to 1959 1.3 reorganization and specialization 1960 to 1979 1.4 new opportunities and directions 1980 to 1999 1.5 further expansion and decline 2000 to 2012 1.5.1 growth 1.5.2 accounting scandal 1.5.3 expansion to the credit default insurance market 1.5.4 liquidity crisis and government bailout 1.6 modern era 2012 to present 2 bailout litigation 2.1 money damages 3 corporate governance 3.1 board of directors 4 business 5 subsidiaries 6 see also 7 references 8 further reading 9 external links history edit north china daily news building on the bund shanghai elevation the original home of what became aig ; now the aia building . 70 pine street was known as the american international building . the early years 1919 to 1945 edit aig traces its roots back to 1919 when american cornelius vander starr 1892 1968 established a general insurance agency american asiatic underwriters aau in shanghai china . 9 business grew rapidly and two years later starr formed a life insurance operation . 10 by the late 1920s aau had branches throughout china and southeast asia including the philippines indonesia and malaysia . 11 in 1926 mr. starr opened his first office in the united states american international underwriters corporation aiu . 12 he also focused on opportunities in latin america and in the late 1930s aiu entered havana cuba . 13 the steady growth of the latin american agencies proved significant as it would offset the decline in business from asia due to the impending world war ii . 9 in 1939 mr. starr moved his headquarters from shanghai china to new york city . 14 15 international and domestic expansion 1946 to 1959 edit after world war ii american international underwriters aiu entered japan 9 and germany 16 to provide insurance for american military personnel . throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s aiu continued to expand in europe with offices opening in france italy 11 and the united kingdom . 17 in 1952 mr. starr began to focus on the american market by acquiring globe & rutgers fire insurance company and its subsidiary american home fire assurance company . 18 by the end of the decade c.v. starr s general and life insurance organization included an extensive network of agents and offices in over 75 countries . 18 reorganization and specialization 1960 to 1979 edit in 1960 c.v. starr hired maurice r. greenberg to develop an international accident and health business . 19 two years later mr.greenberg reorganized one of c.v. starr s u.s. holdings into a successful multiple line carrier . 18 greenberg focused on selling insurance through independent brokers rather than agents to eliminate agent salaries . using brokers aiu could price insurance according to its potential return even if it suffered decreased sales of certain products for great lengths of time with very little extra expense . in 1967 american international group inc. aig was incorporated as a unifying umbrella organization for most of c.v. starr s general and life insurance businesses . 20 in 1968 starr named greenberg his successor . the company went public in 1969 . 21 the 1970s presented many challenges for aig as operations in the middle east and southeast asia were curtailed or ceased altogether due to the changing political landscape . however aig continued to expand its markets by introducing specialized energy transportation and shipping products to serve the needs of niche industries . 22 by 1979 with a growing workforce and a worldwide network of offices aig offered clients superior technical and risk management skills in an increasingly competitive marketplace . 22 new opportunities and directions 1980 to 1999 edit during the 1980s aig continued expanding its market distribution and worldwide network by offering a wide range of specialized products including pollution liability 22 and political risk . 22 in 1984 aig listed its shares on the new york stock exchange nyse . 23 throughout the 1990s aig developed new sources of income through diverse investments including the acquisition of international lease finance corporation ilfc a provider of leased aircraft to the airline industry . 9 in 1992 aig received the first foreign insurance license granted in over 40 years by the chinese government . within the u.s. aig acquired sun america inc. a retirement savings company in 1999 . 24 further expansion and decline 2000 to 2012 edit the aig headquarter building in new york city . the aig headquarter building of woodland hills los angeles . growth edit the early 2000s saw a marked period of growth as aig acquired american general corporation a leading domestic life insurance and annuities provider 25 and aig entered new markets including india . 26 in february 2000 aig created a strategic advisory venture team with the blackstone group and kissinger associates to provide financial advisory services to corporations seeking high level independent strategic advice . 27 aig was an investor in blackstone from 1998 to march 2012 when it sold all of its shares in the company . blackstone acted as an adviser for aig during the 2007 2008 financial crisis . 28 in november 2004 aig reached a us 126 million settlement with the u.s. securities and exchange commission and the justice department partly resolving a number of regulatory matters but the company must still cooperate with investigators continuing to probe the sale of a non traditional insurance product . 29 accounting scandal edit in 2005 aig became embroiled in a series of fraud investigations conducted by the securities and exchange commission u.s. justice department and new york state attorney general s office . greenberg was ousted amid an accounting scandal in february 2005 . 30 31 32 the new york attorney general s investigation led to a 1.6 billion fine for aig and criminal charges for some of its executives . 33 on may 1 2005 investigations conducted by outside counsel at the request of aig s audit committee and the consultation with aig s independent auditors pricewaterhousecoopers llp resulted in aig s decision to restate its financial statements for the years ended december 31 2003 2002 2001 and 2000 the quarters ended march 31 june 30 and september 30 2004 and 2003 and the quarter ended december 31 2003 . 34 on november 9 2005 the company was said to have delayed its third quarter earnings report because it had to restate earlier financial results to correct accounting errors . 35 expansion to the credit default insurance market edit martin j. sullivan became ceo of the company . he began his career at aig as a clerk in its london office in 1970 . 36 aig then took on tens of billions of dollars of risk associated with mortgages . it insured tens of billions of dollars of derivatives against default but did not purchase reinsurance to hedge that risk . secondly it used collateral on deposit to buy mortgage backed securities . when losses hit the mortgage market in 2007 2008 aig had to pay out insurance claims and also replace the losses in its collateral accounts . 37 aig purchased the remaining 39 % that it did not own of online auto insurance specialist 21st century insurance in 2007 for 749 million . 38 with the failure of the parent company and the continuing recession in late 2008 aig rebranded its insurance unit to 21st century insurance . 39 40 on june 11 2008 three stockholders collectively owning 4 % of the outstanding stock of aig delivered a letter to the board of directors of aig seeking to oust ceo martin sullivan and make certain other management and board of directors changes . this letter was the latest volley in what the wall street journal called a public spat between the company s board and management on the one hand and its key stockholders and former ceo maurice greenberg on the other hand . 41 on june 15 2008 after disclosure of financial losses and subsequent to a falling stock price sullivan resigned and was replaced by robert b. willumstad chairman of the aig board of directors since 2006 . willumstad was forced by the us government to step down and was replaced by ed liddy on september 17 2008 . 42 aig s board of directors named bob benmosche ceo on august 3 2009 to replace mr. liddy who earlier in the year announced his retirement . 43 liquidity crisis and government bailout edit further information subprime mortgage crisis and financial crisis of 2007 08 aig faced the most difficult financial crisis in its history when a series of events unfolded in late 2008 . aig was bailed out by the federal government for 180 billion and the government took control . the financial crisis inquiry commission fcic made the major government study of the crisis . it concluded in january 2011 the commission concludes aig failed and was rescued by the government primarily because its enormous sales of credit default swaps were made without putting up the initial collateral setting aside capital reserves or hedging its exposure a profound failure in corporate governance particularly its risk management practices . aig s failure was possible because of the sweeping deregulation of over the counter otc derivatives including credit default swaps which effectively eliminated federal and state regulation of these products including capital and margin requirements that would have