New York-based American International Group Inc (AIG) said on Friday it lost US$8.87 billion in the fourth quarter as its general insurance business remained weak and the company ran up expenses from paying back government loans.
The troubled insurer also said in an annual regulatory filing that it may need additional support from the government.
However, AIG has included such warnings in past filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The fourth-quarter results were an improvement from the US$61.7 billion AIG lost in the year ago period, but they were worse than analysts expected. They also followed two straight profitable quarters.
The company reported a 2.2 percent drop in new premiums in its Chartis general insurance business, compared with a year earlier.
AIG attributed the slide in part to the weak economy. It also had lower sales of life insurance products, and it added US$2.3 billion to its reserves against losses in its commercial insurance business.
AIG also reported US$6.2 billion in expenses from repaying government loans.
It also said it lost US$65.51 per share in the last three months of last year. The compares to a loss of US$458.99 per share in the fourth quarter of 2008.
On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecast a quarterly loss of US$3.94 per share.
AIG was bailed out in September 2008 by the government as the financial crisis spiraled out of control.
The insurer has received aid packages with a total value of US$182.5 billion from the government. In return for that financial support, the government received an 80 percent stake in AIG.
Since receiving government bailout funds, AIG has completed 19 unit sales or asset transactions in an effort to repay government debt.
It reported on Friday that it continues to unwind its Financial Products Group, the unit blamed for AIG’s downfall.
“Clearly we will be a smaller and more focused company than in the past,” CEO Robert Benmosche said in a prerecorded message. “The only way we can repay taxpayers is to divest parts of this organization.”
Earlier this month, MetLife Inc confirmed that it is in talks with AIG to buy one of AIG’s insurance units. Media reports price the deal at as much as US$15 billion.
The two companies have been in discussions for months about a potential deal for AIG’s American Life Insurance Co, known as Alico.
Alico is an international life and health insurance business that operates in more than 50 countries.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
CUSTOMERS’ BURDEN: TSMC already has operations in the US and is a foundry, so any tariff increase would mostly affect US customers, not the company, the minister said Taiwanese manufacturers are “not afraid” of US tariffs, but are concerned about being affected more heavily than regional economic competitors Japan and South Korea, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said. “Taiwan has many advantages that other countries do not have, the most notable of which is its semiconductor ecosystem,” Kuo said. The US “must rely on Taiwan” to boost its microchip manufacturing capacities, Kuo said in an interview ahead of his one-year anniversary in office tomorrow. Taiwan has submitted a position paper under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act to explain the “complementary relationship” between Taiwan and the US
RSS