Monday, March 23, 2009
AIG's essential asset, it's brand, is tarnished
The government’s fourth round of assistance to the American International Group this month was a play for time — for languishing markets to rebound, for pockets to fill up again and for buyers to emerge for the sturdy insurance companies under A.I.G.’s tattered corporate umbrella...
...But after the latest uproar, time does not look like A.I.G.’s friend. The problem now is not a toxic spiral of derivatives like the one that crippled the company last fall, but the damage done to A.I.G.’s brand, first by the financial troubles and then by the recent wave of hearings, subpoenas, late-night television jokes and even a bus tour past executives’ homes.
A strong brand is something no insurer can afford to put at risk. Insurance companies trade, more than anything else, on their image of strength and stability...
NY Times: AIG's essential asset, it's brand, is tarnished
...But after the latest uproar, time does not look like A.I.G.’s friend. The problem now is not a toxic spiral of derivatives like the one that crippled the company last fall, but the damage done to A.I.G.’s brand, first by the financial troubles and then by the recent wave of hearings, subpoenas, late-night television jokes and even a bus tour past executives’ homes.
A strong brand is something no insurer can afford to put at risk. Insurance companies trade, more than anything else, on their image of strength and stability...
NY Times: AIG's essential asset, it's brand, is tarnished
Permalink posted by markw @ 5:12 AM 
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