Below is a video excerpt from the seventh annual Economist Marketing Forum in San Francisco on March 17, 2009. In this clip the speakers are asked a question that many people have been thinking: “Should AIG have been allowed to fail?”

The forum is described as: “A panel of professors discuss how to spot an upturn in the current economic landscape…”.  The two speakers are Ward Hanson, Policy Forum Director, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research; and Michael Lehmann, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of San Francisco.

The full program is available here.

The sun is starting to peek through the clouds for Canadians who hold AIG policies

Last week it was announced that AIG would be selling it’s Canadian life insurance arm to Bank of Montreal for $375 Million.

This will hopefully come as some relief to those of us that held or sold AIG insurance policies.  AIG was one of our top providers, and we have a number of clients with AIG plans.  While there was never much risk of these plans not paying out (AIG is a member of Assuris, an organization built to protect policyholders from the impact of financial failure of an insurance company), nobody enjoys uncertainty in their financial plans.

There will most likely be a “re-branding” of the services offered, though any AIG policies you have now will not need to be replaced, nor can the coverage be altered by BMO.  If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.

BMO buys AIG’s Canadian unit – The Globe and Mail/Report on Business
BMO pays cash for AIG’s Canada unit – Toronto Star
AIG selling Canada life-insurance arm for $308 million – The Wall Street Journal/MarketWatch
BMO buys AIG’s Canadian life insurance unit – The National Post/Financial Post
BMO’s $375M purchase of AIG Canadian insurance could herald more deals – The Canadian Press
Independent Brokers Celebrate BMO Purchase of AIG Life of Canada – PRWeb
AIG To Sell AIG Life Insurance Company Of Canada To BMO Financial Group – PR-USA.net