AIG Clients Remain Unconvinced

By Jane Han

Staff Reporter

Kim Kyoung-hwa's phone was ringing off the hook all day Tuesday through Wednesday afternoon. The AIG financial advisor of five years was busy answering nervous clients' questions whether their policies are safe at the wobbling insurance giant.

``I've repeated the same answer about 50 times now,'' said the 46-year-old, who has signed on an average of three new clients every month. ``My customers aren't putting in money once a month for nothing, so all the recent mess is definitely stirring up a lot of worries.''

Cash-squeezed AIG was on the verge of collapse Monday, but the U.S. Federal Reserve, in a last-minute rescue decision Tuesday, agreed to pump $85 billion into the troubled firm.

Bankruptcy has been averted, but consumer trust won't be easy to recover for the world's largest insurer that covers about 1.2 million customers in Korea.