Our plans for Brexit

 

We are pleased to announce AIG’s two new entities in the European region, American International Group UK Limited (AIG UK) in London and AIG Europe S.A. (AESA), based in Luxembourg, became operational on 1 December 2018. The restructure was undertaken through a transfer of insurance business from AIG Europe Limited (AEL) to AIG UK and AESA, and a cross border merger of AEL into AESA, and was approved by the High Court of England and Wales on the 25th October 2018.  

The two-entity structure allows us to meet the needs of our clients and guarantees contract certainty for AEL policyholders after the UK leaves the European Union. 

Brexit Information

AIG currently operates in Europe through a single legal entity: AIG Europe Limited (AEL), a UK insurance company with branches across Europe.  We are restructuring AEL in response to the UK’s decision to leave the European Union (commonly known as “Brexit”). By restructuring, we are seeking to ensure that we can continue to service policyholders in the UK and across Europe after Brexit.

 

On these pages, you will find:

Background

  • In March 2017, we announced our decisive move to locate a new European insurance company in Luxembourg.  From December 2018, AIG proposes to have two insurance companies in Europe – one in the UK to write UK business, and one in Luxembourg to write EEA and Swiss business, which will have branches across the EEA and Switzerland.
  • As part of the restructuring, AIG will transfer all of AEL’s existing UK insurance business to the new UK insurance company, and at the same time, will transfer AEL’s existing European business to the new Luxembourg company. 
  • The proposed restructure will be undertaken through a legal process combining an insurance business transfer (known as a Part VII Transfer) and a cross-border merger, which is subject to regulatory and court approvals.  We will be writing to policyholders, claimants, brokers, and other interested parties from April 2018 to provide details of the proposed restructure, and how it may impact them.
  • Following the restructure, AIG will have one entity in the UK to write UK business and one in Luxembourg to write business in EEA countries and Switzerland through its branch network.

 

We encourage you to re-visit this website from time to time, as more information will be made available as our restructure plans progress.  Please see our FAQs for greater understanding of our plans. 



Frequently Asked Questions

AIG currently operates in Europe through AIG Europe Limited (AEL), an insurance company incorporated in the United Kingdom (UK) which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (the PRA) and regulated by the PRA and the Financial Conduct Authority (the FCA). We are proposing to transfer all of AEL’s insurance business to two newly authorised insurance companies within the AIG Group (the Proposed Transfer). The two newly authorised insurance companies are American International Group UK Limited (AIG UK) and AIG Europe SA (AIG Europe). All of the UK related insurance business of AEL will be transferred to AIG UK, and all of the European related insurance business of AEL will be transferred to AIG Europe.

The Proposed Transfer forms part of the restructuring being implemented by the AIG Group in response to the decision of the people of the UK to leave the European Union (EU) (commonly known as “Brexit”). The Brexit process will result in the UK leaving the EU on 29 March 2019. We are undertaking the Proposed Transfer as part of our wider restructuring to ensure that we can continue to service our existing policyholders and write new insurance business across Europe after Brexit.

The Proposed Transfer will be carried out by means of a combined insurance business transfer under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the FSMA) and a cross-border merger under the European Cross-Border Merger Directive (the Merger). Further information about the legal process will be provided in March 2018.
 

It is anticipated that the Proposed Transfer will become effective on 1 December 2018. We will be contacting policyholders, claimants, as well as other interested parties from April 2018 onwards to provide them with further information about the Proposed Transfer, details of how they can raise comments or queries and of the rights that they have if they believe that they may be adversely impacted by the Proposed Transfer.  

AIG's decision to base its new European headquarters in Luxembourg was taken for a combination of reasons after a thorough review of possible locations. The majority of the business we will write out of the Luxembourg entity will be in continental Europe and Luxembourg’s geographic location at the heart of the European market is a benefit. Luxembourg is a core member of the European Union, has a stable economy, an experienced and well-respected insurance regulator and is a hub for financial services generally. AIG Europe will be governed by the framework laid out by Solvency II, as implemented in Luxembourg, providing policyholders with a high level of protection.
 

AIG Europe is incorporated in Luxembourg and will operate from headquarters in Luxembourg City. The entity will be authorised by the Luxembourg insurance regulator, the Commissariat aux Assurances (the CAA). This entity is an AIG Group company and will operate as the AIG Group’s new European insurance company, offering insurance products and solutions across continental Europe as AEL did before. The same teams will continue to provide expert underwriting and claims handling as they do now and our contact details will remain the same. 

Yes. The Proposed Transfer relates to all of AEL’s policies (including its policies in the UK, the EEA and the rest of the world). If the High Court of England and Wales (High Court) sanctions the Proposed Transfer, its decision will bind all policyholders as a matter of English law and will be recognised in all other EEA jurisdictions.

The legal and regulatory framework relating to the Proposed Transfer seeks to ensure that policyholders’ interests are safeguarded and the security and benefit to all groups of policyholders of AEL will not be adversely affected. As part of the Proposed Transfer, the interests of all our policyholders, are being looked after by a thorough review process which includes:

  • the appointment of an Independent Expert to produce a report for the High Court on the likely impact of the Proposed Transfer on policyholders;
  • the ability for policyholders and interested parties to object or raise any concerns in relation to the Proposed Transfer, either to the High Court or to AIG, following which the concerns raised will be communicated to the PRA, the FCA, the Independent Expert, and the High Court;
  • close consultation with the PRA and FCA who will also provide a report on the Proposed Transfer to the High Court;
  • the approval of the Proposed Transfer by the High Court.

We are closely monitoring political developments, and will consider these if they provide a more certain timeline and structure for the UK’s future relationship with Europe.  Our current priority is to ensure that we can continue to service our existing policyholders and write new insurance business across Europe after Brexit.  As such, we do not currently envisage any change to our restructure plans.