Chattanooga: Not that AIG

Since reports that the federal government offered an $85 billion bailout to the insurance giant American International Group, Robert Whittle has been trying to calm his customers’ nerves.

Mr. Whittle is the president of Agency Insurance Group which, like American International Group, uses the abbreviation AIG.

But the similarities end there.

American International Group is the nation’s largest insurer with 116,000 employees in 2007, according to Hoover’s, a financial analysis company, and net income of $6.2 billion in 2007, according to AIG’s annual report. Agency Insurance Group, a locally owned insurer, has just eight employees and writes $5 million in premiums, Mr. Whittle said.

“We are in no way affiliated with American International Group,” he said. “We’ve always put our name when we put our logo there, so we have never pretended to be them.”

But that didn’t prevent clients from swarming into the small, octagon-shaped building at 6008 B Shallowford Road, wanting to cash out their policies. Mr. Whittle said about 50 people have either come to his office or flooded the phone lines asking if their policies are still valid.

“We think things have settled down, but every now and then I hear the receptionist on the phone explaining that we are not them,” Mr. Whittle said.

Tim Young, an employee benefits broker, deals mostly with group health insurance. He said his clients have not been alarmed by the American International bailout.

“Most of the people are dealing with United Healthcare and BlueCross BlueShield, these huge companies that have been so good to them for so long,” Mr. Young said. “I think everybody knows of the financial strength of those guys. They know there is no connection to AIG, so my customers have been very happy.”

Mr. Whittle said some of his customers became argumentative with him and said they didn’t believe him when he said he is not associated with American International Group. Some of the calls were actually American International Group customers, but they called Agency International Group instead.

Still, Mr. Whittle said he doesn’t plan to change his name.

“I’ve been in business for 30 years,” he said. “I think when this settles down, people won’t even remember.”

Mr. Whittle’s company initially operated as Whittle Insurance Agency, but they merged with Gloria Sutten Insurance Agency in 1993 and began operating under the name Agency Insurance Group.

Mr. Whittle said while he was able to allay most of his clients’ fears, he could be losing business over the confusion and not realize it.

“Most were understanding, but it is hard to know what is going on out there,” he said.