AIG repays $2.15 billion to bailout program

WASHINGTON – American International Group Inc. has paid the federal government $2.15 billion this week after selling off a life insurance subsidiary, trimming its financial bailout balance to roughly $51 billion.

The Treasury Department said Thursday that the repayment comes from AIG's sale of its Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. in Taiwan. AIG has now paid back $11.4 billion of the $68 billion in bailout funds it received from the government at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

The government sold 200 million AIG shares in May. That cut the government's stake in the company from 92 percent to 77 percent. Treasury officials have said they expect to recoup the full amount of the bailout.

Robert Benmosche, the president and CEO of New York-based AIG, said the sale of Nan Shan was "a great result for American taxpayers, for AIG and for Nan Shan's policyholders, employees and agents."

"We continue to make progress in helping the Treasury and taxpayers recoup their investment in AIG," Benmosche said in a statement.