AIG’s Leadership Transition To Hancock As CEO Official
November 9, 2014 by Michael Buck
Peter Hancock has taken overAmerican International Group as president and chief executive officer as its former leader,Robert Benmosche, heads into retirement.
Hancock has also joined the company’s board of directors. Benmosche will be available to Hancock in an advisory role, according to the company. The transition was announced in June.
Hancock most recently served as CEO of AIG Property Casualty, a post to which he was named in 2011, and has already said he does not plan to fill that role with someone else as the company looks to reduce its management layers. Before coming to AIG, Hancock had a career in the financial services industry, including 20 years atJ.P Morgan.
Hancock has said he does not plan to make any abrupt changes and will focus on seeking value rather than bulking up the company’s premium volume. He takes over just as AIG disposes of its last non-core asset following the financial crisis-a sale ofInternational Lease Finance Corp. to Dutch companyAerCap Holdings N.V in a deal valued at$7.6 billion.
Much of Benmosche’s time at AIG was focused on deals like the ILFC one: selling off units that were not core to AIG’s insurance operations. Benmosche’s retirement from AIG marks the second time he has stepped down as head of a major U.S. insurance company. In early 2006, he retired fromMetLife Inc. after an eight-year run as its chairman and CEO.
-Michael Buck