All publicity is good publicity," the saying goes. Somehow, I bet the employees of AIG would beg to differ with that statement.
For a few months there late in 2008 and into 2009, at the height of the financial crisis, AIG—the recipient of a 12-figure federal bailout—was probably the most reviled corporate brand in America.
While its top executives took very harsh, and very public, drubbings at Congressional hearings, I'm sure going to work in those days was not much fun for anybody—worrying, for starters, if Michael Moore might accost you with a camera while you were trying to enter your building.
The abuse must have felt especially unfair to the tens of thousands of employees who worked for AIG's P&C businesses. Not only did they have nothing to do with AIG's collapse (blame those infamous credit-default swaps), but the P&C units were viewed as market leaders, widely respected not just for the volume of business they did, but also for the innovative ways in which they approached insurance, developing new models which became widely adopted by their peers.
But now three years after the advent of those extremely dark days for the company, the company's P&C business—with the new, AIG-distancing name of Chartis—remains a dominant presence in the industry. Instead of an untimely death, or the unsightly dismemberment and fire-sale dispersion of its choicest parts, Chartis still can lay claim to being, in the words of one of its top competitors, "the 800-pound gorilla" in the P&C room. Quite a comeback.
Considering how desperate the situation was in September of 2008, the fact that Chartis is not only still here, but still in a position of great strength, struck NU as worthy of an in-depth exploration of the company on the third-year anniversary of the bailout.
We've dedicated more than half the magazine to telling this story, and we think it's a very rich package. It kicks off with an exclusive interview with the new head of Chartis, Peter Hancock, who was named CEO in March. In a "Chartis By The Numbers" feature, we show that the company still leads in market share in a number of important lines.
And for anyone who has forgotten some of the key events that have shaped AIG and Chartis over the past three years—or just how bad it was—a timeline stretches throughout the section, highlighting the essential happenings.
Of course, the news isn't all rosy. We give a number of analysts who follow the company the chance to share their opinion of the company's present performance and its future prospects. I like the analogy given that Chartis is like a professional sports team that had some disastrous seasons; has made some major changes that look great on paper; and now needs to execute its new plan on the field.
And last but definitely not least, we hear from those who perhaps matter most to the company's top and bottom lines: its customers. Buyers and brokers tell us what they like—and what they don't—about doing business today with the company.
And a special note for digital subscribers: Throughout the section, you'll see invitations to experience content not available to print readers, such as video clips of our interview with Peter Hancock and a special sidebar on Chartis and its use of technology.
Enjoy this deep-dive look at Chartis—and share your thoughts with us online.
Bryant Rousseau
Editor in Chief
brousseau@sbmedia.com
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