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| AIG's Benmosche wants to quit |
| Bloomberg / Hong Kong Nov 12, 2009, 00:37 IST |
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American International Group Inc Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche told the company’s board that he is considering resigning from the job he’s held for three months, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation. Benmosche told directors at a meeting last week that he was “done”, though he agreed to think it over after board members reacted with shock. The CEO is chafing under constraints imposed by AIG’s government overseers, in particular a recent compensation review by Kenneth Feinberg, the special master on pay in US President Barack Obama’s administration, according to the people. Benmosche, who started in August after his predecessor Edward Liddy quit in May, is seeking to halt the departure of customers and employees so he can build up units to sell in order to repay loans included in AIG’s $182.3 billion bailout.
New York-based AIG is among firms Feinberg ordered to slash pay.
“If it’s true, it’s not a pretty story,” said Mitsushige Akino, who oversees about $645 million as chief investment officer at Tokyo-based Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. “Either he’s leaving because the first round of problems have been settled to some extent, or there are too many problems to be dealt with. The US government is still taking a very conservative stance on tackling the financial system problems.”
Last week, Benmosche and other AIG board members met with Feinberg in New York, the Journal said. During the three-hour meeting, board members discussed difficulties of complying with pay policies and retaining talent, the report said.
Benmosche’s frustrations “hit a crescendo”, the Journal cited a person familiar with the matter as saying.
AIG’s New York-based spokespeople Christina Pretto and Mark Herr didn’t immediately answer calls to their mobile phones after business hours.
The former MetLife Inc CEO is AIG’s fifth chief executive officer since 2005. Benmosche, 65, said he turned down the AIG top position three times before accepting the post. Cash salary was reduced by 91 per cent for 12 of the New York-based insurer’s top executives under recommendations by Feinberg, according to documents issued last month. Feinberg has jurisdiction over the 25 highest-paid employees at AIG and six other firms that got US bailout funds.
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