AIG gets green light for Brexit restructuring plans

American International Group (AIG) has received approval from the High Court of England & Wales to transfer its European business into two new entities, American International Group UK (AIG UK) and AIG Europe (AESA), ahead of Brexit.

This was the final UK approval needed to complete the restructuring of AIG Europe (AEL). Both companies will start writing business and policyholders will transfer from AEL to the relevant new entity on 1 December 2018.

AIG currently writes business in Europe from AEL, a single insurance company, based in the UK with branches across Europe. As part of the restructure, AIG will merge AEL into AESA.

AIG UK will be based in London, and will continue the business of AEL’s existing UK operations.

AESA will be headquartered in Luxembourg, with 21 branches across the EEA and Switzerland.

AIG said the two-entity structure will enable it to continue to service all of its policyholders and business partners across the UK and Europe, and to guarantee contract certainty to all AEL policyholders, regardless of the future relationship between the UK and the EU.

Anthony Baldwin, CEO of AEL and AIG UK, said: “Today is an important day most of all for our clients, as we can now guarantee them access to the full range of our capabilities after Brexit. 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.”