AIG Chief Believes They'll Pay Back Bailout Billions Before Deadline

$182.3 billion is a hefty tab to pay off, but the CEO of AIG says he feels “pretty comfortable” that his company will be able to get that all back to the government between now and the Sept. 2013 deadline.

“We haven’t locked in a date (for repayment),” said CEO Robert Benmosche. “We think over the next 12 to 18 months we can see our way clear to working through some of our issues… The most important thing is to raise enough money so that we can pay back the Federal Reserve.”

A semi-sizeable chunk of that debt will be repaid once the sales of former AIG holdings American International Assurance (to Prudential for a proposed $35.5 billion) and American Life Insurance Company (to MetLife for $15.5 billion) are completed.

In spite of the fact that the government has control over how much top AIG execs are paid and the feds also just named two of their own choices to sit on AIG’s board, Benmosche downplayed the government’s role in operating the business: “We run the company, they just keep an eye on things and make sure everything’s OK.”

AIG CEO Robert Benmosche: I’m ‘pretty comfortable’ we’ll be able to repay $182B bailout by deadline [NY Daily News]

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