Benmosche comments on AIG earnings

He said those goals were outlined at a time when “there was some serious concern in the marketplace, could AIG survive and continue to grow and thrive? And we put together some key points that we felt we needed to all work towards to give you the confidence that we can, in fact, return to [being] a very strong company.”

In answering an analyst’s question at the conference call today, Benmosche said he did not mean to imply that meeting those goals were at risk.

“We’ve discussed a whole lot of things one would have to do once we get closer. Because look, if I could tell you exactly what I could be, at exactly a point in time, I think I would have problems with some of the people in Washington in the enforcement group, because you can’t run this business with that degree of accuracy, and you all know that.”

Wintrob said that sales increased across all retail investment products, from both the prior quarter and the year ago period. He said surrender rates also declined sequentially across all product lines. Individual variable annuity and retail mutual fund sales momentum continued, reaching $2.4 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively, for the quarter, he said.

“We also saw meaningful acceleration in fixed annuity sales, which reached nearly $1.2 billion in the quarter,’” Wintrob said. He also mentioned growth in institutional premiums and deposits was driven by a midsized pension buyout case and a large group retirement plan takeover in the quarter.

“Additionally, we closed on $5.3 billion of stable value wrap business in the quarter, bringing total stable value wrap assets under management to approximately $19 billion at the end of the quarter,” Wintrob said, adding that net interest income declined 5 percent in the quarter, largely due to lower than expected alternative investment returns and the continuing impact of reinvesting at rates below our current portfolio yields.

In answer to a question, Peter Hancock, CEO of AIG’s P&C operations, said that AIG was consolidating its Japanese businesses, which comprises a large part of AIG’s personal lines P&C business. Hancock said Japan is, “by far, the largest consumer operation we have,” and it is a “large and stable book-of-business, but it’s not growing that fast, obviously, with the demographics in Japan as they are.”

At the same time, Hancock said, “The one exception is the excitement we have about Fuji Life, and so we see good growth there as we rebuild the life business, taking advantage of the aging population in Japan.”

He said the company is integrating its Fuji Fire and Marine with its AIU business, which will reduce overhead costs, as well as an integration of many capabilities that will improve the expense picture on the whole.

AIU Insurance Company, Ltd. started business in Japan in 1946 as a general insurance company. As of April, AIU Insurance Company, Japan Branch, has locally incorporated and started business as AIU Insurance Company, Ltd. AIG said at the time that “AIU will continue to use AIG’s worldwide network and overseas market experience, as well as its long proven track record in Japan, to provide customers with reliable insurance products and services.”