In a quarter that saw American International Group record its first profit in more than a year, the company’s local subsidiary reported a loss.

American General Finance, an AIG subsidiary based in Evansville, said it lost $202 million in the second quarter of 2009. The performance was worse than that of the same period a year ago, when the company had a loss of $40 million.

Yet American General Finance didn’t greatly hinder AIG. The insurance giant reported a profit of $1.82 billion for the quarter. A year earlier, AIG lost $5.4 billion, or $41.13 per share.

As for American General Finance, the company’s troubles continue to stem from tightened credit markets, according to a statement filed with regulators. In the past, American General Finance’s main means of raising money had been borrowing.

Also harming the company has been a decrease in the interest and other fees collected on loans it has made. One reason for that loss is the company’s decision to raise cash by selling some of those loans.

In the first half of 2009, American General Finance brought in $1.4 billion by selling loans for real estate. In July, the company entered into an agreement to sell mortgaged-back certificates to Credit Suisse Inc., raising $967 million.

Meanwhile, American General Finance has tried to control its costs through layoffs and closing offices. In May, it let about 140 workers in the Evansville area go, leaving it with about 1,300 here.

In a statement, AIG said it plans to support American General Finance at least until Aug. 15, 2010.

As for the results from AIG’s insurance operations, AIG said those fell during the second quarter because of the weak economy, a trend reported by other insurers. But investors appeared relieved by the company’s report. AIG shares jumped $4.11, or 18.2 percent, to $26.64 in midday trading Friday.

The company’s total revenue rose 48 percent, to $29.53 billion from $19.93 billion a year earlier.

Chairman and CEO Edward M. Liddy said in a prepared statement that the company was still contending with the consequences of the company’s brush with collapsing last fall. He said “performance trends stabilized from the first quarter,” but added that AIG’s financial results would continue to be volatile in future quarters, in part because of accounting charges related to its ongoing restructuring.

AIG now has received a government loan package worth up to $182.5 billion. The company is in the process of trying to sell off some of its assets to begin to repay the money. It said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday that it expects proceeds of about $8 billion from sales so far this year, giving it about $4.6 billion to begin repaying debts, including what it owes the government.

The company said its profit was driven by the stabilizing value of some of its riskier investments, including in its AIG Financial Products Corp. portfolio, the division responsible for many of the transactions that prompted the government bailout last fall.

- The Associated Press contributed to this report.