American International Group Inc (AIG) has named director Robert "Steve" Miller as its new chairman, replacing Harvey Golub who resigned after clashing with chief executive Robert Benmosche over the botched sale of the insurer's Asian life unit.
AIG is set to move forward with an initial public offering for the Asian unit, AIA Group Ltd, a source familiar with the situation said.
"Bob Benmosche has informed the board that he believes our working relationship as chairman and CEO to be ineffective and unsustainable," Mr Golub (71), wrote in a letter to George Miles, an AIG director.
"At this point, I view asking the board to choose between us would be an abdication of my responsibility to lead," Mr Golub said. "Consequently, I'm resigning for the simple reason I believe it is easier to replace a chairman than a CEO."
Mr Golub, a former American Express chief executive, and Mr Miller were nominated to AIG's board last year by the government, which owns nearly 80 per cent of the insurer.
A turnaround specialist, Mr Miller (68), has come out of retirement several times to work with troubled companies in many industries.
His expertise would be useful for AIG, which is trying to restructure operations after receiving a $182.3 billion (€143.2 billion) rescue from the US government.
Reuters