Too big to fail in the insurance industry

The aim of this book is to explain the 'too big to fail' issue in the insurance industry. To this end two insurance companies that got into trouble were examined theoretically and the results were summarised in case studies. American International Group Inc. (AIG) which is examined in the first part of the book found itself in acute liquidity distress following the turbulent developments on the US real estate market in 2008. Many of the credit default swap (CDS) contracts signed by its subsidiaries were based on subprime mortgages that had defaulted. The insurance company was rescued by the US government because it was too big and too interconnected to fail. The second part of the book describes the situation surrounding Mannheimer Lebensversicherung AG. The portfolio of the German Mannheimer Lebensversicherung AG was transferred to the newly founded rescue company Protektor Lebensversicherungs-AG in order to preserve the image of the German life insurance industry as crisis-resistant. The second intention behind this was to protect policyholders and their claims.