Insurer AIG names Keith Walsh as finance chief

(Reuters) -Insurer American International Group named industry veteran Keith Walsh as its executive vice president and chief financial officer on Wednesday, effective Oct. 21 this year.

Walsh has over two decades of experience in finance leadership and had earlier served as the CFO of Marsh, a unit of Marsh McLennan.

He had also worked as an equity research analyst at Citi for 14 years, where he covered the insurance sector, including property and casualty underwriters, insurance brokers, asset managers and small- and mid-cap life insurers.

The move comes at a time when insurers have benefited from a revival in spending on policies despite rising premiums and their income from investments has been fueled by a strong U.S. equity market.

Walsh would be based in New York and will lead the commercial insurer's global finance organization, the company said.

"Keith is a highly accomplished executive with deep financial expertise and significant investor experience in the financial services sector, particularly the insurance industry," Peter Zaffino, chairman and CEO of AIG, said in a statement.

Walsh will report to Zaffino, who joined the firm in 2017 as global chief operating officer. He will succeed Sabra Purtill, who has served as AIG's CFO since 2023.

Purtill initially joined AIG in 2019 as deputy CFO. Three years later, AIG spun-off its life and retirement business into CoreBridge Financial, due to pressure from activist investors.

She left to serve as the chief investment officer of CoreBridge and rejoined the insurer in June last year as its finance chief.

Shares of the company have gained nearly 8% year-to-date.

(Reporting by Pritam Biswas and Juveria Tabassum in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Mohammed Safi Shamsi)