Insurance giant American International Group has found a replacement for current CEO Robert Benmosche.
AIG (AIG) said Tuesday that Peter Hancock, who currently heads the company’s property and casualty insurance unit, will take over for Benmosche as CEO starting in September. At that point, the company says Benmosche will take on an advisory role at AIG including helping with leadership development at the company and advising Hancock.
Benmosche was the government’s choice to take the helm at AIG in 2009, a year after the insurer received a federal bailout to prevent its collapse. He took over for Edward Liddy, a previous pick of the U.S. Government for the AIG CEO position who spent less than a year in that role.
Under Benmosche’s watch, AIG sold off large chunks of its assets and cut costs in order to repay what grew to be a $182 billion government bailout. Last year, the insurer made its final repayment on that loan, ending the government’s five-year tenure as an AIG stakeholder.
“AIG today is a far stronger company than it was five years ago, and with the crisis well behind us, AIG now is focused on its core mission: to help people and businesses around the world prepare for the future, recover from loss, and retire with confidence,” said Robert Miller, AIG’s chairman.
Hancock, 55, is a former J.P. Morgan (JPM) banker who joined AIG in 2010. Hancock said Tuesday that “a far stronger AIG has the opportunity to extend our industry-leading positions as we continue to set new standards of quality for our customers and distribution partners worldwide.”