American International Group (AIG)
Netherlands → USA
Finance, Banking & Insurance
Summary
AIG was founded in 1919 in Shanghai by Cornelius Vander Starr, born in 1892 in Fort Bragg, California, to Dutch immigrant parents. After army service in California and bond-trading in San Francisco, Starr sailed to Shanghai in 1919 and started selling insurance to Westerners and Chinese alike — the first Western insurance firm to insure Chinese citizens. The Asian business survived Japanese invasion and Communist takeover; Starr relocated his American operations to New York in 1939. Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, recruited in 1960, expanded it into a global financial-services giant. AIG’s 2008 federal bailout was the largest in U.S. history; the company has since stabilised.
European Contribution
Dutch maritime-commercial and insurance traditions, transmitted from immigrant parents to a son who carried them around the world.
American Impact
Created the first major American multinational insurance group; remains one of the largest insurance companies in the world.
Timeline Highlights
- Late 19th century Vander Starr parents emigrate from the Netherlands
- 1892 Cornelius Vander Starr born in California
- 1919 Founds American Asiatic Underwriters in Shanghai
- 1939 Headquarters move to New York
- 1969 AIG name adopted; goes public 1969
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Sources
https://www.britannica.com/topic/american-international-group-inc