AIG confesses $454m performance bonuses

by David Masters

Story link: AIG confesses $454m performance bonuses

AIG paid out $454 million in 2008 performance bonuses, it emerged this week.

The embattled US insurer revealed the previously undisclosed figure yesterday in answer to questions from a US law maker.

AIG told Representative Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, that the bonuses were paid out to employees in 120 countries.

Employees in AIG asset management group were paid an average bonus of $51,026.

Within the last month, CEO Ed Liddy said total 2008 performance bonuses ‘might have been in the range of $9 million’.

Upon discovering that the true bonus figure, Cummings said: “I simply cannot fathom why this company continues to erode the trust of the public and the US Congress, rather than being forthcoming about these issues from the start.”

AIG has already been heavily criticised for paying out $165 million in retention bonuses during the year in which it had to be bailed out with $170 billion from the taxpayers’ pocket.