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The AIG Story
By Maurice Greenberg and Lawrence A. Cunningham – All
Reserved @ 2013
Review By
Sampson I.M Onwuka
The AIG story is a forgotten American financial saga
concerning the heroic efforts of Eliot Splitzer – New York attorney general and
Maurice Greenberg (Hank Greenberg) - AIG Chairman until 2006 – replaced by
Frank Zarba in 2005 – confirmed in 2006. This book is a defense of Hank
Greenberg’s activity at the helm of AIG – American Insurance Company and
presents an argument on the company acquired AIRCO, ALICO, New Hampshire
Insurance, American Life Insurance which forever changed the company. His defense
was perhaps a reaction to Ron Shelp and Al Ehrbar (2006) ‘Fallen Giant’ which
is also animating for the role of C.V Starr. Starr as a company was the general
manager for a 2 billion of AIG shareholders compensation with longer time than
Starr International. Part of the merit is the management and acquisition of
American International Marine Agency and American International Aviation Agency.
The offer for consolation was 600 million dollar of his expectations and ended
up rejecting the package. Greenberg’s account tends to present a different
account, especially the incident towards the end and the mysterious actions of
the State of New York against AIG.
For our purpose we discuss some versions of the book by Greenberg
and Cunningham It also describes the lead relationship between AIG and American
Super Funds contracted through EPA and vast removal of waste and bi-product
from the American landscape. The authors - Greenberg and Cunningham narrate the
early years of AIG as part of SICO – Starr International and Starr Foundation
and how the struggles of the founder C.V Starr set the standard for later
generation of managers and insurance brokerage – especially Hank Greenberg –
that the said individual was instrumental in International Business Leaders
Advisory Council is not new but the depth of his leadership qualities is
challenged by Lawsuits under the then Attorney General of New York. Greenberg
argues that AIG contrary to what was believed about it transformed the lives of
its shareholders, that the shareholders were perhaps expecting too much and
above there were issues of SICO who placed a 20 billion ownership bait over
AIG.
Greenberg argued that AIG was principally responsible for
bringing China to World Trade Organization, to which he – Greenberg was not recognized
in spite of the direct conflict between Washington D.C and Beijing over his
insurance activity in Asia and AIG. It reached a certain point that conflict of
interest over the later PICC and AIG proved the constant threat to his
operation. It wouldn’t have also mattered when and if CALPERS – California
Public Employees retirement system adopted AIG and Teachers Insurance and
Annuity Association College retirement Equities Fund, were managed by AIG with
a sparing on SICO for a life of business model which included risk management
and property insurance. It also deals with the issue of competition, ACE,
Hartford, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Travelers among the insurance companies
that earned rates as China and its rate gradually makes a turn to World Markets
with Walmart and other American companies based in China – including Boeing
reaching the American markets with cheaper and affordable products.
By the time America opened an office in Hong Kong; AIG has
hired and had marveled career managers such as Hank Greenberg, Gordon Tweedy,
K.K Tse, William Youngman, T.C Hsu, Helen Graham Park, Ernest Stempel, Artemis
Joukowsky ll, and would have staged some transformation in many parts of world
and earned ill as well ordinary friends. What happened in 2008 could hardly be
called a footnote to AIG but no one who manages the taller buildings of the
world – TIAA CREF State building (1, 250 feet), Chrysler building (1, 046ft),
would lose in the face of securing insurance based ETF in Eastern Europe, out
of which Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and Country Wide based in California paid
several prices consequent to losses following a 2001 World trade center which
AIG was the insurance company.
Short VIEW
The story of how well the 9/11 2001 incident played into the
U.S economy cannot be championed by the collapse of a Fallen Giant – or any
financial system considered Too Big to Fail – it amounts to the failures of the
existing economic communities to adjust to some of the drastic changes
following the 2000. The stakes were high, the profits high, and the sale of
property worth more than market common, and the connection between Stuyvesant-Cooper
Town Village fiddling the collapse of CALPERS, the shortfalls in Lehman
Brothers interest in over-priced real estate of Stuyvesant and the ETF in
Eastern Europe are no small part of the colossal case against AIG or are we
interested in the details. Part of the story about AIG which is not included in
the book is how Washington D.C and the then President (ex-President G.W. Bush) reacted
to the incident and how it held the poison that infected the U.S economic
system for many years – enough to witness the collapse of AIG and the beginning
of Government interest in AIG.
AIG may or may not have ended its dominance in New York in
2001 – but the insurance dividend which it inherited from that apocalyptic year
2001 and 2002 was unlikely to be broached or superseded. The only forward was perhaps downwards…..
