AIG fires interim chief financial officer

AIG has fired its interim chief financial officer less than a month after giving him the position, saying he breached the insurance group’s confidentiality rules.

Mark Lyons, who stepped into the CFO role when Shane Fitzsimons went on medical leave in early January, is leaving the company with a negotiated pay-off of $7.5mn, AIG said on Monday.

According to a regulatory filing, Lyons, 66, was fired last Tuesday “after the company became aware that he violated his confidentiality/non-disclosure obligations”.

It provided no specific details of the violations but said they were “unrelated to the company’s financial statements, financial reporting generally and related disclosure controls and procedures, or reserves”.

A legal settlement between AIG and Lyons said that he had not used or disclosed confidential information, “other than with respect to the sharing of access to company-issued communication devices”.

Under the terms of the settlement, Lyons agreed not to sue AIG over his termination. He will lose unvested bonuses, but be paid two lump sums of $3.75mn over the next year. The company said the payment was “in recognition of [his] contributions to AIG since he joined the company in 2018”.

Lyons was AIG’s global chief actuary and head of portfolio management before being made interim CFO this month. He had done one stint in the CFO role, from 2018 to 2021, having joined AIG from Arch Capital.

According to AIG’s most recent annual report, Lyons was paid $8.8mn in 2021, $10.3mn in 2020 and $7.8mn in 2019.

AIG, under chief executive Peter Zaffino, has been continuing with an on-off restructuring that recently included putting its financial products group into bankruptcy and conducting an initial public offering of its life insurance and asset management business, which has been rebranded as Corebridge Financial.

Lyons has also resigned as a director of Corebridge, the company said on Monday.

AIG has appointed Sabra Purtill, Corebridge’s chief investment officer, as its new interim CFO. Turab Hussain, currently chief risk officer of general insurance, will be interim global chief actuary.