Insurance giant American International Group (AIG) has secured the final UK approval required to implement the restructuring of its European operations in preparation for Brexit.
Image: The AIG Towers of Los Angeles. Photo: courtesy of HanSangYoon/ Wikipedia.
The approval from the High Court of England & Wales allows the global insurer’s subsidiary AIG Europe (AEL) to transfer its business into two subsidiary insurance companies – American International Group UK (AIG UK) and AIG Europe SA (AESA).
The insurance giant said that the two-entity structure will enable it to maintain its services to all its policyholders and business partners in the UK and in rest of Europe.
Further, the restructuring will also ensure contract certainty to all AEL policyholders, irrespective of the future relationship between the UK and the EU.
Both the insurance companies will commence writing business and policyholders will transfer from AEL to the relevant new entity on 1 December 2018.
AEL and AIG UK CEO Anthony Baldwin said: “We have cleared the final major legal hurdle in our Brexit plans which will enable us to offer our clients, partners and colleagues certainty that AIG is ready to overcome the challenges posed to the insurance industry by Brexit, regardless of the UK’s future relationship with the European Union.
“All our clients can be assured of past, present and future contract certainty under the new structure. As we launch our two new legal entities to ensure the smooth operation of our business across Europe after Brexit, it’s an exciting time for AIG.”
At present, the insurance major writes business in Europe from AEL, a single insurance company headquartered in the UK with branches in various parts of Europe. Under the restructuring move, the insurance giant will merge AEL into AESA.
AIG UK will be headquartered in London and will continue the business of AEL’s existing operations in the UK, which is the insurance major’s largest single operation in Europe.
On the other hand, AESA will be based in Luxembourg City with 21 branches across the EEA and Switzerland.
Last month, AIG signed a deal to acquire US-based broker and insurance company Glatfelter Insurance Group for an undisclosed price. Glatfelter Insurance provides services for specialty programs and retail operations.