US authorities were yesterday fighting a fresh fire in the crisis on Wall Street, throwing a $20bn lifeline to AIG, one of the world's largest insurers, just hours after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and Bank of America's $50bn rescue takeover of Merrill Lynch.
The deal between AIG and New York State insurance regulators allows the company to access $20bn of its own subsidiaries in a desperate attempt to stave off a liquidity crisis and credit downgrades.
The move came as fears over AIG's financial health sent its shares into a tail-spin yesterday morning. The stock fell as much as 70 per cent in morning trading in New York to a intra-day low of $3.50 and was trading 47 per cent lower at $6.24 in mid-afternoon.
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