AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL GROUP INC

Credit risk is defined as the risk that our customers or counterparties are unable or unwilling to repay their contractual obligations when they become due. Credit risk may also result from a downgrade of a counterparty’s credit ratings or a widening of its credit spreads.

Direct and indirect credit exposures may arise from, but are not limited to, fixed income investments, equity securities, deposits, commercial paper investments, securities purchased under agreements to resell and repurchase agreements, corporate and consumer loans, leases, reinsurance and retrocessional insurance recoverables, counterparty risk arising from derivatives activities, collateral extended to counterparties, insurance risk cessions to third parties, financial guarantees, letters of credit, and certain General Insurance businesses. AIG's credit risk management framework defines credit risk processes to identify, evaluate, risk rate, measure, manage and govern credit risk across the enterprise and to ensure the consistency of those processes.

We monitor and control our company-wide credit risk concentrations and attempt to avoid unwanted or excessive risk accumulations, whether funded or unfunded. To minimize the level of credit risk in some circumstances, we may require mitigants, such as parental or third-party guarantees, simultaneous payment provisions or collateral, including commercial bank-issued letters of credit, funds withheld accounts and cash or securities held in trust collateral accounts.

For additional information on our credit concentrations and credit exposures, see Investments – Investment Strategies – Available-for-Sale Investments.

Derivative Transactions

We utilize derivatives principally to enable us to hedge exposure associated with changes in levels of interest rates, currencies, credit, commodities, equity prices and other risks. Credit risk associated with derivative counterparties exists for a derivative contract when that contract has a positive fair value to us. All derivative transactions must be transacted within counterparty limits that have been approved by ERM. We evaluate counterparty credit quality via an internal analysis that is consistent with the AIG Credit Policy and, where necessary, we require credit enhancements for certain transactions and enter into offsetting and netting arrangements.

For additional information related to derivative transactions, see Note 11 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.