AIG paid CEO Duperreault $20.9M in 2018

(Reuters) — American International Group Inc. said on Tuesday it paid CEO Brian Duperreault $20.9 million in 2018 while also outlining a series of reforms to its pay practices in the face of shareholder criticism.

The pay, for Mr. Duperreault's first full year at the helm of the insurer, was less than half the $43.1 million he received in 2017, which included a $12 million cash bonus and other one-time awards.

At its annual meeting in 2018, only 62% of shareholder votes backed the pay, an unusually low number compared with the roughly 95% support that major U.S. companies typically receive in such votes. So-called say-on-pay votes are nonbinding, but low results often spur directors into action to guard against losing their own seats.

AIG now hopes to win over some of the skeptical investors at this year’s annual meeting, set for May 21 in New York. Potentially making the task harder will be that shares of the company declined 34% in 2018.

Mr. Duperreault, known in the insurance industry as a turnaround expert, took charge of AIG in May 2017.

In its proxy, filed on Tuesday, AIG listed a number of steps it has taken in response to shareholder concerns, including tying executive pay more directly to share performance.

For instance, the company said that although Mr. Duperreault could have achieved a short-term incentive award of $3.456 million, the board reduced that to $3.04 million in order to reflect “shared accountability” for overall company performance.

Other changes include an initiative to increase diversity among board members and ensuring that board member nominees who are also CEOs and up for election this year serve on only one outside board.