AIG to dole out $100 mn in bonuses amid criticism: report

Insurer American International Group is moving forward with its plans to pay out as much as $100 million in bonuses, despite drawing criticism from some lawmakers, a media report says.

The Wall Street Journal said in a report, "American International Group Inc is moving forward with a plan to accelerate bonuses to employees of its financial products division, after they agreed to a $20 million reduction in $195 million of previously promised awards."

The $20 million AIG secured from former and current employees at AIG Financial Products would go towards a commitment it made to recoup $45 million of bonus payouts last year to employees of the division.

Bonuses had caused an uproar because the unit had been responsible for the soured trades that precipitated the government rescue of the company, the WSJ said.

AIG said, it believed the recouped $20 million "allows us to largely put the matter behind us", the report added.

The company said it will continue to work with former employees to recoup the remainder "over the next few months".

The WSJ quoted the Treasury spokesperson as saying: "These payments are tied to employment contracts from 2007 that fell outside the jurisdiction of [US pay czar Kenneth Feinberg] and the law. We are encouraged that AIG employees are making good on the repayment pledges they made last spring."