AIG Scam New Customers by Using a Fake Name

Just months after dropping the telltale “A.I.G.” from its sales brochures, the company has leapfrogged its competitors and reclaimed a title it held for many years before its bailout — the top seller of fixed annuities to bank customers.

People buying the annuities in bank branches may be surprised to know they are signing up with A.I.G. The contracts are being offered under the names of two subsidiaries, Western National Life and First SunAmerica. Until last June, they carried the name of A.I.G. Annuity.

The booming annuity sales are a bright spot for American International Group, which must raise cash to pay back the federal government.

But some competitors and consumer advocates are questioning A.I.G.’s comeback, saying its ability to keep drawing federal money is giving it an unfair advantage just a year after its government rescue.

Often sold as alternatives to certificates of deposit, fixed annuities are insurance contracts that guarantee a set rate of return, unlike variable annuities, whose returns may track the ups and downs of the markets.

The people who buy them in banks tend to be looking for something safe, but which pays more than a certificate of deposit. Fixed annuity contracts usually run for many years, and even before A.I.G.’s bailout last year, its customers began to have qualms about tying up their money with a company whose future was uncertain.

"Fresh Pay Skirmish Erupts at AIG"

Cry me a river...

Five high-ranking executives at American International Group Inc. said last week they were prepared to quit if their compensation is cut significantly by the insurer's government overseers, according to people familiar with the matter.

The threat is the latest in the running fracas between AIG and the government's compensation czar, Kenneth Feinberg, who is charged with setting pay limits for top executives at companies receiving the most federal bailout money.

The AIG executives who notified the company they were prepared to resign include its general counsel, Anastasia Kelly, and the heads of some of its largest insurance businesses.