AIG is too large and needs to shrink, says its chief

American International Group's chief executive Robert Benmosche has said the insurance company is 'too big' and 'complex' to manage and needs to shrink.

In an interview to the 'Wall Street Journal', Benmosche said that AIG, in its current form, is too large. "I feel strongly that AIG is too big today -- it is extremely complex to manage and we need to make sure it's more transparent, that it's smaller, and that we can make it on our own."

The 65-year-old chief executive, who took the top job at AIG in August, has slowed down asset sales at the insurer but still sees such sales, and competitive employee compensation, as key to the insurer's goal of repaying about $90 billion it owes to the US government-- a process he says would take years.

Besides, the report cited Benmosche as saying that top executives at AIG have been struggling financially in the backdrop of global financial crisis.

He further told WSJ that 10 individuals who report directly to him have lost a combined $168 million in prior years' pay since the US bailout of AIG in September 2008.

Another five employees at AIG's financial-products division, who are unwinding its derivative trades, have lost $88 million in prior pay.