AIG ASSIGNS STAFF FROM ARGENTINA TO ADVISE GREEK COUNTERPARTS

US-based insurer AIG has assigned staff from Argentina to help out their fellow employees in Greece, to cope with a possible Greek exit from the euro, capital flight and a period of extreme uncertainty. Peter Hancock, CEO of the AIG non-life business Chartis, said yesterday at a Sanford Bernstein-sponsored investor conference in New York that "our Argentina team that has been successful before, during and after their currency crisis has been working with our team in Athens". Argentina defaulted on $95bn in debt in 2001 and abandoned a 1-to-1 peg with the US dollar. Mr Hancock said that AIG might benefit from a major European crisis as a "flight to quality" of the type that has benefited the US dollar over the past few weeks. However, he said that "I don't take great joy in that. The damage to growth in Europe and global growth of a continued crisis in the eurozone is just bad for demand in general".