AIG unit CFO says no exodus after pay curbs
NEW YORK, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Bailed out insurer American International Group Inc's (AIG.N) global property-casualty division has not lost any employees because of pay limits imposed by Washington, the unit's chief financial officer said on Thursday.
Robert Schimek praised AIG Chief Executive Robert Benmosche -- who reportedly was distressed enough about pay curbs to threaten to quit -- for standing up for employees.
"That's just Bob saying 'I want to get it right for these people," said Schimek, who has known Benmosche for many years, having worked closely with him on MetLife Inc's (MET.N) initial public offering earlier this decade.
The Obama administration's pay czar Kenneth Feinberg said last month that renegotiating bonuses for AIG employees was a "top priority," adding he believed he could do so without losing key employees.
Schimek estimated that about one-fifth of the 100 senior managers affected by the pay restrictions work for the global property-casualty division. The unit was renamed Chartis in July as part of an effort to avoid damage to its reputation because of its association with AIG.
"These people have been fully communicated to," about the pay restrictions, he said. "We have not lost anyone as a result."
Chartis employs about 34,000 around the world.
Benmosche was formerly CEO of MetLife and Schimek, now CFO of Chartis, was a partner at accounting firm Deloitte, which worked with the life insurer when it made the jump from mutual insurer to a publicly-traded one.
Schimek, speaking on the sidelines of an insurance conference hosted by Ernst & Young in New York, said Chartis' net worth was about $40 billion, more than half AIG's total equity.
Schimek is currently working on the stand-alone financials for Chartis for the past two years, one more step towards greater independence from AIG.
Chartis is undertaking the painful separation from AIG after a long history together. AIG's property-casualty division has been in operation since 1919, as a predecessor to modern- day AIG, and a keystone of the insurer's once vaunted claim to global dominance.
AIG nearly collapsed more than a year ago because of risky investments within its financial products unit, necessitating a massive taxpayer bailout, including more than $80 billion in loans from the U.S. Federal Reserve and Treasury. (Reporting by Lilla Zuill; editing by Andre Grenon)
