AIG or American International Group and its subsequent failure are one of, if not the most well-known company failures in financial history. Of the more recent bankruptcies filed for companies like Enron and Worldcom, the effects and unforeseeable consequences of the failure of a company like AIG would be much more widespread and felt by many more Americans at the lay person level. AIG is primarily an insurance company that sells Property casualty, life, and travel insurance to customers the world over. However, there was another arm to the company known as AIG FP or American International Group Financial Products division. This division dealt in the financial markets as more than an intermediary, but actually as a trader. The most publicized and understood version of what happened at AIG is that the federal government bailed them out. The term bailout has come to be understood as a final resort transaction Continue reading