AIG Books Travel Gig on Expedia -- WSJ

By Leslie Scism 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (March 3, 2018).

American International Group Inc. said it has been selected to sell travel insurance to customers of Expedia Inc.'s websites, part of AIG's larger effort to earn more revenue from consumers.

Expedia's Brand Expedia Group, one of the world's biggest travel-site operators by bookings, said the pact would make AIG's Travel Guard offerings available to people booking flights, hotels, cars, cruises and other travel on its sites. Those include Expedia.com, CheapTickets, Orbitz and Travelocity. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Expedia said it would expand the AIG offerings to its global websites following the U.S. launch. In the U.S., AIG is replacing Transamerica, a unit of Dutch insurer Aegon NV. Internationally, Expedia now uses German insurer Allianz SE, Expedia said.

A Transamerica spokeswoman said the insurer has stopped selling travel insurance "as part of a previously announced strategic decision." Allianz couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Aon PLC's Affinity Travel Practice will continue to provide advisory services to Expedia and handle claim services in the U.S., Expedia said. Aon has worked on the travel program for 15 years.

AIG Chief Executive Brian Duperreault is seeking ways to expand the global insurance conglomerate rather than return excess cash to shareholders in the form of stock buybacks. The Expedia pact follows AIG's January agreement to acquire insurer Validus Holdings Ltd. for $5.56 billion.

After that deal, Mr. Duperreault said he would continue to hunt for acquisitions because there is "white space" that can be filled in across the global operations. In particular, he has mentioned life insurance internationally and sales of policies to small and midsize U.S. businesses.

AIG and other insurers of businesses have been struggling to raise premium rates on many property and casualty policies sold to business clients over the past several years. The price squeeze has lessened somewhat in recent months in the wake of more than $100 billion in insured damage industrywide from hurricanes and fires in 2017. But the resulting premium-rate increases aren't broad-based, and they haven't been as strong as initially expected, analysts say.

AIG is hardly a newcomer in selling to consumers. It is one of the U.S.'s biggest providers of homeowners coverage to wealthy households and is prominent in sales of life insurance and annuities to individuals.

From 2009 through 2012, AIG divested tens of billions of dollars of businesses and assets to repay its nearly $185 billion bailout during the financial crisis.

Write to Leslie Scism at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 03, 2018 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.