The American international group has a history that dates back to 1919. The company was started when Cornelius Vander Starr established an insurance agency in shanghai the capital city of china. Starr was the first person from the western to sell insurance policies to the Chinese. Starr sold policies until the company which is the current AIG left china in 1949. In the same year the company’s headquarter was moved to New York in United States from where it expanded through venturing into other markets in the parts of Latin America, Asia, Europe and Middle East.

In 1962 the management of the company moved from Starr to Maurice Greenberg who diverted its concentration from personal insurance sales to high margin corporate coverage where he eliminated agents by bringing in independent brokers whom he used in selling insurance polices. This strategy helped the company to price insurance depending on its probable return even at times when there were reduced sales of certain products and for a long period and still incur very little extra expenses. After Greenberg took over the management of the company it sooner went public in 1969. Starting from 2005 the company was caught up in a series of frauds that were investigated by the justice department of U.S., the office of attorney general in new state and the securities exchange commission. The then CEO Greenberg was suspended and replaced by Martin Sullivan in Feb. 2005. In June 2008 some financial losses were disclosed which led to the fall of AIG share price in the stock market. This resulted to resignation of Sullivan who was then replaced by another CEO Edward Liddy in sep. same year. American international group is the biggest underwriter of industrial and commercial insurance. The financial scandals of 2008 led to great losses to the company which made it suffer a liquidity crisis as its credit rating was downgraded.

AIG it a globally recognized insurance company with branches in different parts of the world. Its vision is “to be the leader in innovative mortgage solutions” while its mission is “to be the mortgage insurer of choice through: professional and dedicated staff, entrepreneurial leadership, disciplined risk taking, customer satisfaction, and through solutions to facilitate Canadian homeownership”. The company’s global benefits network has lately introduced the AIG atlas as one of its strategies. This atlas is a basically a range of products meant to assist in meeting the unique benefit needs of the employees. This will then enhance the utility of the capability of the company’s employees in over 100 countries hence be able to provide the best services as well as cost effective solutions to its customers all over the world (AIG Group Management Division 2009). The unique benefits to the employees will include medical insurance, life insurance and long term disability insurance. The company also intends to provide full time services through charge-free phone number as well as management and monitoring of emergency medical cases.