LIC chair: bribery charges not to impact balance sheet

Thursday November 25, 02:30 PM

MUMBAI (Reuters) - State-run Life Insurance Corp of India does not see any impact on the balance sheet and asset quality of its housing unit due to the arrest of the arm's chief executive, its chairman said on Thursday.

India's Central Bureau of Investigation said on Wednesday it had arrested eight financial officials, including the chief executive of LIC Housing Finance and investment secretary at parent LIC, on charges of receiving bribes for granting loans.

LIC Chairman T.S. Vijayan said as per the company policy the two arrested group officials would be suspended after two days of police custody.

(Reporting by Sowmya Kamath and Suvashree Dey Choudhury)

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AIG posts massive loss on sale, goodwill charges

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bailed-out insurer American International Group lost more than $2 billion in the third quarter as charges for the discount sale of its consumer finance unit offset growth in its general insurance business.

AIG had warned in August that the sale of a majority stake in American General Finance to Fortress Investment Group would lead to a $1.9 billion pretax loss. Although the sale price was not disclosed, it was characterized as a "very small fraction" of the value of the business.

AIG reported a third-quarter loss of $2.4 billion, or $17.62 per share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $455 million, or 68 cents per share. Besides the American General Finance loss, AIG also took two charges of more than $1 billion each, for goodwill and tax items.

Operating results, stripping out extraordinary items and discontinued operations, came in at a loss of $200 million, or $1.47 per share.

The two analysts reporting estimates to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S given earnings-per-share forecasts of 58 cents and $1.35.

(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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