Edward Liddy, the government-appointed chairman and chief executive of AIG, is to leave the stricken insurer after only eight months in a move that will allow the Obama administration to choose its own leaders for the troubled group.
The AIG board, which is now controlled by government appointees, said it would split the role of chairman and chief executive and look at external and internal candidates for those positions.
Mr Liddy – a veteran insurance executive who was chosen by Hank Paulson, the Treasury secretary in the Bush administration last September – said on Thursday he would leave as soon as replacements for the two jobs were found.