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In the aftermath of the financial crisis, American International Group was bailed out by the federal government. But evidently, that truth hasn't stopped their current CEO from arguing that the company should be allowed to regulate itself.
This week, when asked by CNN's Poppy Harlow for his opinion on financial reform, AIG CEO Robert Benmosche made his views clear. "Right now, the most important thing is that we've got to get companies to regulate themselves and to do the right thing," he told CNN viewers. The regulator's job, he continued, is "to figure out how to improve that system."
In 2008, AIG required a $180 billion bailout package in order to stay afloat after the company teetered close to collapse, according to CNN. Prior to the collapse, the company had insured $441 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities for Wall Street banks in the form of credit default swaps, reports Bloomberg. When the system imploded, AIG became the big insurer that couldn't keep up.
Still, in the CNN interview, Benmosche defended investment banks, saying the practices employed were not criminal, simply the result of bad management.
"It could be just sloppy underwriting, it could be sloppy business," Benmosche said. "And that's just not illegal, unless you portray something one way and you knew it wasn't."
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