Peter Hancock has opted to leave his current position with the insurer following a tremendous loss.
It has been only three weeks since the report of massive losses from AIG and the insurance company CEO, Peter Hancock, has chosen to step down from his position.
Hancock has been the AIG CEO for less than three years, when he was first appointed to the position.
The insurance company CEO was chosen for the job in the hopes that he would be the person to turn things around at AIG. That said, Hancock will be staying on as the chief exec for the insurer until a replacement can be found. The announcement was made closely on the heels of the astounding losses from one of the largest insurance companies in the world. In February, AIG reported that its fourth quarter losses were of $3.04 billion and that there was a $5.6 billion pre-tax charge for giving its claims reserves a shot in the arm.
The announcement of the results failed to meet Wall Street’s predictions. Only a short time before the results announcement, AIG entered into a reinsurance agreement with National Indemnity, a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary. In that deal, AIG agreed to pay $9.8 billion.
The quarterly losses suffered by the insurer represented the worst performance it had recorded since the peak of the financial crisis in 2008. At that time, the insurance company found itself on the brink of complete collapse. It was able to recover only through the assistance of a $180 billion bailout.
In late February, a report from the Wall Street Journal stated that the AIG board of directors would discuss whether or not Hancock should remain the insurance company CEO following the considerable fourth quarter losses. Hancock made a statement in a recent company release saying that without “wholehearted” shareholder support, he felt that stepping down was the best decision. His decision was meant to avoid undermining the progress AIG has been making throughout the time he has been at the helm.