AIG puts up regional backroom center in RP

The American International Group (AIG), the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. (Philamlife), and the American General Life Companies (American General) has selected the Philippines for the location of its outsourced-business processing operations center (BPO).

The Philippines was chosen over a number of Asian countries, showcasing what the country can do in the area of BPO and shared-services hub. The service center will perform value-added processing that requires significant industry experience and skills, including data entry, scanning and indexing of documents, mail management, policy title changes, correspondence, claims, disbursement and premium processing, call center, and invoice and account payables management.

Greenberg, who is a member of the Philippine President’s International Advisory Board, was in the country to attend its second meeting with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He stated that if this pilot initiative succeeds, other AIG affiliates likewise transfer their backroom operations to the Philippines.

He added that Philamlife and American General have jointly established a domestic corporation named AIG Business Processing Services, Inc., to serve as the local vehicle for the project.

The subsidiary, which is owned by the two companies and capitalized at P500 million, will initially hire around 500 highly skilled Filipinos as its staff over the next 18 to 24 months. Depending on how successful the project will be, more may be hired in the future.

AIG is the world’s leading US-based international insurance and financial services organization, the largest underwriter of commercial and industrial insurance in the United States, and among the top-ranked US Life insurers. Its members companies write a wide range of general insurance and life insurance products for commercial, institutional and individual customers through a variety of distribution channels in approximately 130 countries and jurisdictions throughout the world.

Its global business also include financial services, retirement savings and asset management.

AIG’s financial services businesses include aircraft leasing, financial products, trading and market making, and consumer finance. AIG has one of the largest retirement savings businesses in the United States and is a leader in asset management for the individual and institutional markets, with specialized investment management capabilities in equities, fixed income, alternative investments and real estate. Common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, as well as the stock exchanges in London, Paris, Switzerland and Tokyo.