Mr. Selvam, who has had an illustrious career in law, started his career as an Assistant Lecturer at the Law Faculty of the University of Singapore. He then moved on to be a senior partner at Drew & Napier for over twenty-two years before taking up a position in the Supreme Court. Mr. Selvam was first a Judicial Commissioner, then a Supreme Court Judge for ten years from 1991 to 2001 till he retired from the bench. He is currently a partner in Haq & Selvam.

AIA announced its support program for affected policyholders on 19 June 2003. Under this support program, an affected policyholder, who does not accept the support offer from AIA, may refer the matter to an Independent Adjudicator. Based on the strength of the case, the Independent Adjudicator will offer an award dependent upon the evidence that is presented. The amount of support ultimately awarded by the Independent Adjudicator will be dependent on documentary materials and any other information furnished by the policyholders to the Independent Adjudicator. In this case, the Independent Adjudicator may award more, less, the same or no support as compared to what is offered by AIA. The Adjudicator will make the decision based upon a scoring process designed to provide an objective, fair and consistent framework for decision-making. The Adjudicator will consider where the documents and circumstances presented fit into that scoring system and make a decision on how much to award according to the evidence presented. Any affected policyholder who still remains dissatisfied with the award from the Adjudicator can still avail himself of the Singapore court system.

Mr. Ralph J. Gaudio, Senior Vice President & General Manager of AIA said, “We are pleased that Mr. Selvam has accepted the appointment as the Independent Adjudicator. His ten years on the bench as a Supreme Court Judge, will allow him to bring invaluable experience and the necessary credibility to the adjudication process. In addition, Mr. Selvam has acted as counsel and adviser in several major arbitrations. I am confident that any policyholder who is unhappy with AIA’s support offer will get fair treatment from the Independent Adjudicator, who is in no way connected to AIA.”

AIA emphasizes that it is the Company’s objective for any policyholder not taking the support plan offered by AIA to be involved in the independent Adjudication process only to the extent necessary for the Adjudicator to fairly assess the policyholder’s claim. This will enable the Adjudication process to be independent, objective and consistent at the same time, fair to all affected policyholders. AIA will abide by the decision of the Independent Adjudicator.

Mr. G.P. Selvam said, “I have reviewed the scoring process which is intended to ensure fairness and found it to be useful and it will cater for all affected policyholders.”

The Adjudication process was prompted by the need to resolve misunderstandings by policyholders over AIA’s Financial Guardian policies. The critical year (CY) feature is applicable to some of AIA’s policies. The CY refers to the year in the life insurance policy when the policy has accumulated enough dividends so that a policyholder could enjoy full life insurance coverage thereafter without having to pay any more premiums. There is no guarantee that the CY will arrive on a fixed date from the date the policy was purchased.

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Editor's Notes:
American International Assurance Company, Limited (AIA) is Southeast Asia's largest life insurer, with branch offices and affiliated companies located in countries and jurisdictions including China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Guam, Indonesia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The company has been assigned “AAA” financial strength and counter party credit rating by global credit rating service Standard & Poor's. AIA is a wholly owned subsidiary of American International Group, Inc. (AIG), the world leader in insurance and the largest underwriter of commercial and industrial insurance in the United States
American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is the world’s leading international insurance and financial services organization, with operations in approximately 130 countries and jurisdictions. AIG member companies serve commercial, institutional and individual customers through the most extensive worldwide property-casualty and life insurance networks of any insurer. In the United States, AIG is the largest underwriter of commercial and industrial insurance and is one of the top three life insurers. AIG’s global businesses also include financial services, retirement savings and asset management. AIG’s financial services businesses include aircraft leasing, financial products, trading and market making. AIG’s growing global consumer finance business is led in the United States by American General Finance. AIG also has one of the largest U.S. retirement savings businesses through AIG SunAmerica and AIG VALIC, and is a leader in asset management for the individual and institutional markets, with specialized investment management capabilities in equities, fixed income, alternative investments and real estate. AIG’s common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, as well as the stock exchanges in London, Paris, Switzerland and Tokyo.