FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, September 29, 2017
Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or njacobs@bettermarkets.com

Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement following the decision by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to de-designate AIG as a systemically important financial institution (SIFI).

“FSOC’s action today removing the gigantic global financial firm AIG from federal supervision is as unwarranted as it is unwise.  It is an historic mistake and a slap in the face to the tens of millions of Americans who suffered and continue to suffer from the devastating 2008 financial crash. 

“Unsupervised in the years before the 2008 crash, AIG was one of the most reckless financial firms in the world and a leading cause of the crash.  It enriched itself and its executives at the expense of the American people, who bailed it out with more than $180 billion, some of which it brazenly used to pay executive bonuses.  Indefensibly, there was no accountability for a single AIG executive.  The guilty pocketed their bonuses and victimized Americans paid the bill.

“FSOC’s actions today will again leave AIG unsupervised as a systemically significant financial firm and free to return to its high-risk gambling.  The message this sends to firms and executives — that reckless and lawbreaking pays — will come back to haunt FSOC and all Americans.”

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Better Markets is a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to promote the public interest in the financial markets, support the financial reform of Wall Street and make our financial system work for all Americans again. Better Markets works with allies – including many in finance – to promote pro-market, pro-business and pro-growth policies that help build a stronger, safer financial system that protects and promotes Americans’ jobs, savings, retirements and more. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.com.