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Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has launched a preliminary inquiry into suspected irregularities at a British subsidiary of American International Group Inc., the SFO said on Thursday.

The SFO said its probe into the UK operations of ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ Financial Products Corp. (ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½FP) did not concern the insurance operations of ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ in Britain or elsewhere.

“It is right for us to look into the UK operations of ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ Financial Products Corp. to determine if there has been criminal conduct,” Richard Alderman, director of the SFO, said in a statement.

“We will use our full range of powers to seek information and to speak to those with an inside knowledge of the company’s operations.”

ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ said it was cooperating fully with the SFO investigation.

“As previously disclosed, ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½ began the process of unwinding certain of ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½FP’s and its subsidiaries’ businesses and portfolios, including those in the UK, late last year,” the company said in a statement.

“There are approximately 370 employees in ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½FP worldwide who are working on the winding down of the business.”

The SFO said its probe was separate to two other inquiries into ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½FP being carried out by U.S. authorities and Britain’s financial services regulator, the Financial Service Authority.

ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½, once the world’s biggest insurer by market value, averted bankruptcy last year after a $152 billion rescue package from the U.S. government.

Its troubles were the result of the Financial Product group’s heavy losses on toxic mortgage debt.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by David Holmes)

Topics Fraud ÌìÃÀÍøÕ¾´«Ã½´«Ã½