BestWeek: Branding Experts Explore AIG's Possible Rebranding Strategies

Experts agree something needs to be done with the American International Group Inc. brand, according to a story in BestWeek U.S./Canada. Some believe the insurer, bailed out last year by the U.S. government with a multibillion-dollar rescue package, can rebrand itself over time under its current name. Others view the once highly regarded brand as "dead." That's a far cry from once gracing BusinessWeek's annual list of the top 100 global brands. In 2007, AIG ranked 47th overall and first among insurance companies, with an estimated $7.5 billion brand value. The story is included in the second part of AIG Effect: A Year Later & Beyond -- a two-part series examining the impact the AIG crisis has had on the industry.

Also, in BestWeek Europe, the reinsurance sector is still coping with the impact of the financial turmoil of the past year as an expected hard market has failed to arrive, according to A.M. Best Co. at its annual briefing on the state of the market at the annual Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous. Miles Trotter, London-based general manager of analytics with A.M. Best, said that poor financial performance among reinsurers in 2008 had been driven by reduced investment yields and realized and unrealized losses, as well as poor catastrophe experience.

In BestWeek U.S./Canada, from the District of Columbia to the Bay State, it's been a season of commissioners moving on. It's a good thing the National Association of Insurance Commissioners hands out name tags at its meetings. Otherwise, regulators may not know who's who when they meet in National Harbor, Md., this month. Massachusetts' Nonnie Burnes is the most recent commissioner to announce a departure. Burnes resigned, effective Sept. 18, to become a senior fellow at her alma mater, Northeastern University in Boston. Her deputy, Joseph Murphy, will take the top spot.

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Founded in 1899, A.M. Best Co. is a global full-service credit rating organization dedicated to serving the financial and health care service industries, including insurance companies, banks, hospitals and health care system providers.