AIG 2010 Annual Report Download - page 11

AIG 2010 Annual Report 9
What would you say to the customers and partners who
stuck with us?
Bob: To our customers, I say: Thank you.
Thank you for taking the risk. Because
they stuck with us, because they had faith
we could pull it off. Because if we didn’t
pull it off, they would have been rushing
to the door to nd somebody else to take
their capacity, and they would have been
criticized within their companies. So I now
tell them that they are going to look pretty
smart because they stayed with the right
company. We remember that the people
who stayed with us need priority attention.
Steve: A lot of people who were in a
position to desert us stood by us and had
faith, and we want them to feel good about
their decision. We are well aware that AIG
embarrassed many of our customers and
What challenges and opportunities do you see in 2011?
Bob: Our challenges are to deliver on what
we said we are going to deliver, to enable
the U.S. government to reduce its hold-
ings so that their shares are in the hands of
more natural investors and funds.
Steve: It’s not so much that we’re look-
ing to get rid of the U.S. government – it’s
more that we owe the U.S. government
and the taxpayers a debt of gratitude. It is
more that our challenge is to fully return
to being a normally capitalized company
without the need for extraordinary assis-
tance going forward.
Bob: We are going to see opportunities
in an improving economy over the next
year or two, and regulatory opportunities
around the world. In Europe, for example,
where regulators are focusing on solvency
and requiring companies to raise more
capital for risk-based businesses, we may
see some companies deciding to sell great
backbone of AIG’s recovery. Our success is
a testament to their individual hard work.
I was recently out on the road, meeting
our people and telling them, here’s what
I’ve heard; here’s what I’m expecting from
your management; and here are the things
that you should expect from AIG in the
next couple of months.
Steve: We are now really primed to focus
on our people and developing our people.
Our people have made the difference,
whether it’s the people who have been
here a long time in leadership – so many
people have been here more than 10
years – or those who joined AIG since
September 2008. Our customers know our
employees are empowered and don’t have
to go through many bureaucratic layers.
Bob: If you look at the way Chartis oper-
ates today, and you visit with our custom-
ers, our customers routinely ask, “Can we
still count on your people to be entre-
preneurial, and be key decision makers in
the local communities?” A lot of custom-
ers don’t like to work with others in the
industry because they nd there are too
many layers of bureaucracy to get things
approved.
our other partners. We are doing every-
thing we can to help make sure that never
happens again.
Bob: We understand that some didn’t
want to continue to be protected by
AIG – clearly, they wanted to make sure
that AIG paid back its obligations – and
with the recent clarity, as a result of the
recapitalization, we hope to win them
back. Some are coming back because
they moved too fast, and the companies
that they moved to can’t support them.
Customers tell me they stayed with or
returned to AIG because our people have
the ability to solve complex problems for
them, and AIG will stand by them when it
comes time to paying the claim.