AIA Singapore Appoints New Chief

SINGAPORE, Sep 22, 2008 (A. M. Best via COMTEX) -- AIG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Kenneth Juneau, executive vice president and senior regional life executive of American International Group's American International Assurance regional office, took over leadership of the Singapore unit after general manager Mark O'Dell resigned Sept. 19.

The departure of O'Dell was "in no way related to the recent developments of AIG,"said AIA in a statement. Anxious policyholders in Singapore thronged AIA's customer offices in an effort to terminate their life insurance policies last week.

"We are satisfied with the ability of the company to carry on business as usual and to meet new demands even when there are any changes in management," said Monetary Authority of Singapore executive director of insurance supervision Kwok Mun Low in a statement.

AIA Singapore, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AIG, is the life insurance market leader in Singapore. So far, about 2,000 policies were terminated last week, accounting for about 0.01% of the company's total 2 million policies in Singapore, AIA said.

"MAS's regulatory oversight of AIA and all insurers in Singapore is rigorous," said Low. "We urge policyholders not to act hastily to terminate their insurance policies as they may suffer losses from the premature termination and lose the insurance protection they may need."

The Singapore regulator said AIA Singapore currently has sufficient assets in its insurance funds to meet its liabilities to policyholders. The Monetary Authority said it continues to monitor the insurer closely.

Insurers in Singapore are required to maintain separate insurance funds which are segregated from the parent companies for all polices issued in the country. If any insurance company is wound up, MAS will have recourse to these funds and assets in Singapore.

(By Iris Lai, Hong Kong bureau manager: Iris.Lai@ambest.com)

More News:   Market Updates | Stock Alerts | All Trading News | Stock Index