AIG First-Quarter Net Income $1 Billion Lower Than a Year Ago
May 3, 2013 by Best's News Service
NEW YORK – American International Group, Inc. posted a first-quarter net income of $2.2 billion, which is $1 billion lower than a year ago. The first quarter of 2012 included $3.3 billion income from investments that were sold or liquidated, the company noted.
AIG Property Casualty reported a first-quarter after-tax operating income of $1.6 billion, compared with $1 billion in the prior-year. It’s life and retirement operations booked after-tax operating income of $1.4 billion, compared with $1.3 billion a year ago.
“We are pleased with these results and look to continue to build on our successes, especially as we continue to make progress towards achieving our 2015 aspirational goals,” Robert H. Benmosche, AIG president and chief executive officer, said in a written statement.
AIG attributed gains in its property/casualty operations to increases in underwriting income and net investment income. AIG Property Casualty had a first-quarter combined ratio of 97.3, compared with 102.1 in the prior-year period. Cat losses were $41 million and the company did not provide the prior-year figure.
AIG Property Casualty net written premiums sank 4.3% to $8.4 billion, “reflecting the effects of recognizing ceded premiums written for excess of loss reinsurance agreements at contract inception rather than ratably over the contract period, foreign currency exchange rates, which were primarily driven by strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the Japanese yen, and the timing of a catastrophe bond issuance in the first quarter of 2013,” the company said in a statement.
AIG recently reorganized some of its management after four senior executives resigned in order to join Berkshire Hathaway. The executives that left AIG were: Peter Eastwood, president and CEO of AIG Property/Casualty for the Americas; David J. Bresnahan, president of Lexington Insurance Co.; David Fields, AIG’s global head of casualty insurance; and Sanjay Godhwani, president of AIG property/casualty for Latin America and the Caribbean (Best’s News Service, April 26, 2013).
AIG tapped Robert Schimek, who had been serving as president and CEO of Europe, Middle East and Africa, to become president and CEO of AIG Property Casualty’s Americas region (Best’s News Service, April 29, 2013). Nicholas Walsh, who ran AIG’s international property casualty businesses for many years, will become interim president and CEO of EMEA as the company seeks a permanent successor to Schimek. Jeremy Johnson is now leading Lexington Insurance Co., AIG’s Boston-based excess & surplus lines division (Best’s News Service, April 30, 2013).
At the close of the market on May 2, shares of American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) were trading at $42.13, up 2.28% from the previous close.
(By Michael Buck, senior associate editor, BestWeek: Michael.Buck@ambest.com) BN-NJ-05-02-2013 1657 ET #
