5. How could AIG have avoided its infamous debacle? Who was to blame? At its apogee in 2007, American International Group (AIG) had 74 million customers, employed 116,000 people worldwide, and generated $110 billion in revenue with an asset base of US$1 trillion. Approximately half of its revenue came from general insurance – primarily property and casualty – with the other half generated by life insurance, financial services, aircraft leasing, and asset management. AIG traced its roots to Shanghai (China), where Cornelius Vander Starr established a small insurance agency in 1919 under the name of American Asiatic Underwriters.