AIG sees winding down money-losing unit by year end

[Joanne98]

NEW YORK, Feb 13 (Reuters) - American International Group Inc (AIG.N) expects to have largely wound down a money-losing financial products unit by year end, said Gerry Pasciucco, who was hired three months ago to oversee the closure.

"2009 is when we largely expect to do this," said Pasciucco, a former Morgan Stanley (MS.N)executive who was named interim chief operating officer of the unit, AIG Financial Products (AIGFP) in November.

To wind down the business, AIGFP must find buyers for complex derivatives, or other ways of getting transactions off its books, a process complicated by strained market conditions, but not impossible, said Pasciucco in a telephone interview with Reuters late on Friday.

"We still are able to execute our plan in this market," he said. "We have reduced our positions (or trades) by 25 percent" since November, he added. (Reporting by Lilla Zuill; editing by Carol Bishopric)


http://www.reuters.com/article/etfNews/idUSWEN459520090214

That's the unit that's in this article.

What Cooked The World's Economy

The heart of darkness was the AIG Financial Products (AIGFP) office in London, where a large proportion of the derivatives were written. AIG had placed this unit outside American borders, which meant that it would not have to abide by American insurance reserve requirements. In other words, the derivatives clerks in London could sell as many products as they could write—even if it would bankrupt the company.

http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-01-28/news/what-cooked-the-world-s-economy/

[dkf]

1. I'm beginning to think it really was Clinton's fault.

He swallowed the deregulation clap trap that caused this mess.

And can we really expect that an ideological free marketer like Bush would have undone that? Even if it causes a collapse and everyone knows it did, people like Bush would STILL keep it.

The place to stop it was with Clinton. That was our only hope.

[FieldsBlank]

2. yep

and signing that crap Phil Gramm bill sealed the deal