AIG Posts More Than $1 Billion in Collateral to Shore Up ETC Funds

After trading in more than 100 exchange-traded commodity funds tied to American International Group (AIG) was halted last month on the London Stock Exchange, a new agreement was announced on Tuesday.

London-based ETF Securities, which issued the ETCs, said that AIG had agreed to post some $1.5 billion in collateral to cover contracts. ETF Securities has about $6.5 billion in ETC assets, according to published reports.

ETF Securities told Reuters that about 20% of those ETC assets were held in funds that were backed by matching contracts guaranteed by AIG.

In September, the U.S. government had to step in with an $85 billion bailout package to rescue the once-mighty insurance conglomerate.

"Going forward, the collateral will be valued each business day by BNY Mellon (BK) utilizing generally recognized pricing information vendors, subject to an agreed dispute mechanism, and AIG-FP is required to transfer additional collateral if the value of the collateral in the account falls below the value of all commodity securities in issue," ETF Securities added.

It also stressed that AIG has continued to honor all of its obligations with regard to commodity securities, "including processing all creations and redemptions in the usual manner and paying all redemptions due on time."

In addition, ETF Securities said that the Bank of New York Mellon would serve as collateral manager for the deal. It will hold collateral paid by AIG in a separate account over which a unit of ETF Securities "may take control by delivering to BNY a notice of exclusive control," said the company in a statement.

ETF Securities will host a conference call on Monday at 9 a.m. in London to discuss details of the collateralization of its ETCs.