This will mark the latest round of retention payments made to employees of the AIG unit whose business practices involving credit derivatives resulted in the insurer's near-catastrophic, multimillion-dollar losses in September 2008.
This latest round of payments comes at a time of escalating public and political criticism over big bonuses for Wall Street executives. Prominent Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley are planning to pay employees millions in bonuses in the aftermath of receiving millions more in bailouts funded by U.S. taxpayers. Whether or not such bonuses are lower figures than those typically paid out, which some firms have affirmed, the payouts nevertheless are continuing to come under serious fire.
A $165 million payment to AIG Financial Products employees in March of 2009 led to verbal assaults by politicians and several public demonstrations, including a bus tour of employees’ homes near the unit's headquarters, and threats to others.