Fresh from its latest heart-warming ad campaign AIG is probably considering how to put together its next one, which our non-existent sources suggest will showcase Robert Benmosche, its chief executive, both having a cake and eating it too.
From Dealbook:
The board of A.I.G. will meet on Wednesday to consider joining a $25 billion shareholder lawsuit against the government, court records show.
It is beyond ironic that the same [NYT editorial] page would contort settled tax law to assert that special tax treatment was part of the company’s rescue…
American International Group, the insurer that almost failed in the 2008 crisis, could now withstand a severe downturn, its chief executive said after a market sell-off that presents a variety of challenges for the company. The FT reports second-quarter results published on Thursday, AIG reported net profits of $1.8bn compared with a net loss of $2.7bn in the same period last year. “Our crisis is over. It’s done,” said Robert Benmosche, chief executive. Mr Benmosche said the company – which is 74 per cent-owned by the US Treasury – was transformed following the 2008 crisis and had a much better liquidity profile after shedding most of the notorious financial products division, which brought the company to the brink of collapse by bad bets insuring toxic securities.
Robert Benmosche, chief executive of US insurer AIG, has promised that his company – the oldest and biggest foreign insurer operating in Japan – will pay claims from the earthquake that hit Japan’s northeast region “in a timely manner”, reports the FT. In a letter to AIG staff, Benmosche said the group was “working closely” with its Japanese customers to survey “the full extent of the damage and assessing the full financial impact to AIG”. Insurers are bracing for a huge bill from damage in Japan’s earthquake and tsunami, with AIR, the first of a handful of specialist catastrophe modelling agencies to release its estimate, predicting losses of anything from $15bn to as much as $35bn. However, Jose Hernandez, chief executive of Chartis Far East, AIG’s casualty and property arm in Japan, told the FT it was “far too early” to calculate exposures and the costs of claims that will emerge from Japan’s worst natural disaster. Read more
Robert Benmosche, who has led AIG’s turnround after its near collapse in the financial crisis, told staff he had received an “encouraging prognosis” in his fight against cancer and would remain CEO of the insurer until next year, reports the FT. Benmosche, 66, was diagnosed in October, disclosing five days later that he was undergoing aggressive treatment. The news came just weeks after AIG unveiled a deal to regain its independence from the government. On Monday, he reiterated his plan to retire in 2012. The WSJ adds that the news comes at a crucial juncture for AIG which, with the US government, recently chose four banks to lead its coming share sales. Road shows to market the shares are likely to commence in coming weeks and the offering could happen in either March or May. Read more
American International Group has announced that chairman Steve Miller would step in as the insurer’s interim chief if needed, following the revelation that chief executive Robert Benmosche is fighting cancer, reports the FT. While Benmosche has said he will continue to carry out his role, the move underscores why AIG needs to have a full succession plan ahead of his already planned exit in 2012, NYT Dealbook says. The insurer added in its statement that it would look for both internal and external candidates for when the CEO role becomes available in two years’ time. Read more
American International Group has disclosed that its chief executive Robert Benmosche has cancer and is undergoing aggressive chemotherapy after an unclear prognosis, Reuters reports. The news is a blow to the insurer, just as it makes progress on paying back taxpayers for its 2008 bailout, including the recent sell-off of its Asian unit AIA. Four chief executives have served at AIG since mid-2008. AIG’s board is still in the early stages of succession planning, says the FT, which notes that more than $35bn of Asian assets are still to be sold or listed on AIG’s way to ending government control. Read more
AIG has been rocked by news that Robert Benmosche, its chief executive, has cancer and is undergoing “aggressive chemotherapy”, raising questions over his future at the US government-owned insurer, reports the FT. In a letter to AIG employees on Tuesday, Benmosche, 66, said he felt “fine” and was committed to staying on, but admitted his prognosis would not be clear for another couple of months. The surprise announcement comes at a critical time for AIG, which was bailed out by US authorities at the peak of the financial crisis in September 2008. Read Benmosche’s letter on DealBook. Read more
Bob Benmosche, AIG’s CEO, has moved to stamp his authority on the insurer after winning a boardroom battle, replacing the head of the company’s giant Asian arm only months before its planned listing, the FT reports. The bailed-out US insurer is expected to announce on Monday that Mark Tucker, a former head of the UK’s Prudential, will take over from AIA CEO Mark Wilson. Sky News’ Mark Kleinman says this raises the prospect that Tucker could one day again find himself at the helm of the Pru’s operations, since AIA has been touted as a potential bidder for the Pru. Read more
AIG’s chairman Harvey Golub stepped down on Wednesday after losing a power struggle with the CEO of the bailed-out insurer in a move that could cause further turmoil at the troubled company, the FT reports. In his resignation letter, Mr Golub, a former American Express chief who took over less than a year ago, said Bob Benmosche, AIG’s CEO, had told the board their relationship was “ineffective and unsustainable”. Read more
The failed sale of one of AIG’s crown jewels has strained relationships at the top of the US insurer, increasing tensions between CEO Robert Benmosche and chairman Harvey Golub, the FT reports. The rift between AIG’s two senior executives has triggered concerns that one of the two men might leave less than a year after their appointment. Read more
Prudential’s $35.5bn bid to buy AIG’s Asian insurance arm was on the verge of collapse on Tuesday night, the FT reported. Some investors called for AIA’s chief executive Tidjane Thiam to resign after he failed to renegotiate the deal. AIG’s board voted 10-2 against a proposal to cut to $30.375bn the price paid for AIA, preferring to resurrect plans for a partial sale of AIA in an Asian stock market listing. Staffers at AIA’s Hong Kong HQ greeted the news with “unbridled euphoria“. Read more
Prudential and AIG were scrambling on Sunday to agree a rescue price for the Pru’s $35.5bn takeover of AIA, the US insurer’s Asian businesses, after an investor revolt threatened to derail the deal, reports the FT. Tidjane Thiam, Pru’s CEO, met Robert Benmosche, AIG chief, and investors in the US at the weekend as the two sides attempted to reach a compromise. Earlier, the Sunday Times reported that key Pru investors agreed to back the deal if the UK life assurer could negotiate a 10% cut in AIA’s $35.5bn price tag, reports Reuters. Read more
AIG, the US insurer that received billions of dollars in a US bailout, said on Tuesday that it has been authorised by its board to pay CEO Robert Benmosche’s $7m compensation, after it laid to rest concerns that he may quit the post, reports Reuters. The approval means that AIG can pay Benmosche an already agreed annual salary of $3m in cash and $4m in fully-vested AIG stock. The agreement comes after Benmosche, a former CEO of US insurer MetLife, told the board he was tempted to quit amid frustration over the extent of governmental oversight at the company, including how much it can pay top executives. Read more
AIG’s chief executive Robert Benmosche on Wednesday told staff he remains “totally committed” to leading the state-controlled insurer through its challenges but acknowledged frustrations with the government’s stance on executive compensation, reports the WSJ. The internal memo came a day after the WSJ reported that Benmosche last week threatened to resign, partly due to the government’s pay curbs on AIG. See also FT Alphaville, here. Read more
Will he stay or will he go? That was the question raised by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday morning, when it trumpeted that Robert Benmosche, AIG’s gaffe-prone chief executive had threatened to “jump ship”.
Those all-knowing “people familiar with the matter” were duly wheeled out: Read more
Robert Benmosche has told the board of AIG that he is considering stepping down as chief executive of the state-controlled insurer, just three months after taking the job, reports the WSJ. At a board meeting last week, Benmosche told fellow AIG directors that he was “done” but agreed to think it over after they reacted with shock, say people close to the matter. The executive is chafing under constraints imposed by AIG’s government overseers. Read more
Robert Benmosche has been talking to Reuters again – from his 12-bedroom holiday home in Croatia no less. And it seems he is quickly learning what you can and can’t do as head of a high profile company.
In his latest chat with the news agency, the new CEO of AIG reveals why he called Andrew Cuomo, New York’s attorney general, a “criminal” who did not “deserve to be in office” at a recent closed-door staff meeting in Texas: Read more
Do not worry, US taxpayer.
Robert Benmosche, the new CEO of bailed-out mega-insurer AIG, may be on holiday, but he is actually very busy doing very important things. He just happens to be doing those things from his palatial 12-bedroom villa on the Croatian coast. Read more
AIG’s freshly-installed $7m man Robert Benmosche is confident the insurer can repay its debts to the US government. Cunningly, he doesn’t say when.
Annual salary of AIG’s previous chief executive, Edward Liddy = $1.
Annual salary of AIG’s new chief executive, Robert Benmosche = $7m in cash and stock. Read more
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