American International Group Inc. said shareholders approved a $21 million pay package for Chief Executive Officer Brian Duperreault by only a narrow margin during the company’s annual meeting on Tuesday.
A non-binding resolution to endorse the firm’s executive compensation received support from just 55% of votes cast, according to a securities filing by the company Tuesday afternoon, far below the norm of 90% or more for U.S. stock issuers.The share of the vote was also lower than at last year’s meeting, when 62% of votes cast were in favor of the firm’s compensation, a situation that often leads to pay adjustments.
Among the votes for AIG directors, the lowest level of support was for W. Don Cornwell, chair of AIG’s compensation committee. He received support from 91% of votes cast, according to the filing.
Influential proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis had advised shareholders to vote against compensation packages for the insurer’s top executives, arguing in recent reports that AIG’s top executives get paid too much.
AIG’s executive compensation has an “unmitigated pay-for-performance misalignment,” ISS said in a report on May 7.
“The company paid more than its peers, but performed significantly worse than its peers,” Glass Lewis said in a report seen by Reuters that was distributed last month.
AIG’s stock has declined 14.75 percent since Duperreault took charge in May 2017.
In the first quarter, AIG showed signs of improvement. It beat Wall Street expectations, with its general insurance business posting an underwriting profit for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis.
Duperreault said at the time that he expected the company to record an underwriting profit for the full year.