AIG has been repeatedly called on the carpet over the past week or so for indefensible “business as usual” expenditures—a lavish corporate retreat, an executive hunting trip, and severance packages costing tens of millions of dollars. Now, after a meeting with NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, they’ve announced they’ll start trying harder to monitor and stomp out unnecessary expenses.

First on the cut list is a $10 million severance package for its former CFO. AIG has also announced that it will work with Cuomo’s office to help “recover tens of millions of dollars in improper expenditures, including compensation given to two former top executives” (which we discussed in this post yesterday).

Under the terms of the agreement, A.I.G. will provide the attorney general’s office with an accounting of all compensation paid to its senior executives. A.I.G. also agreed agreed to cancel all junkets and benefits that are not justified by legitimate business needs. AIG will immediately cancel more than 160 conferences and events, some exceeding more than $750,000 per event, for a total savings of more than $8 million.

On Thursday, the company also agreed to establish tighter management controls on future expenses to prevent any future unwarranted spending on salaries, bonuses, stock options, severance payments, gratuities, benefits, junkets and perks.

AIG also hinted to ABC News that they’ll let their contract for a luxury suite at Madison Square Gardens expire in February, although we suspect they’ll wait to see whether the public scrutiny has passed by then.

“A.I.G. to Help Cuomo Recover Millions in Executive Pay” [DealBook at New York Times]
(Photo: Gene Hunt)

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