AIG CEO Peter Hancock to Resign, Icahn Cheers Move

American International Group Inc said Chief Executive Peter Hancock has informed the board that he plans to resign, more than a year after billionaire investor Carl Icahn called for a breakup of the company.

Hancock will remain CEO until a successor has been named, the company said.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the company's board was discussing whether to penalize or oust Hancock over a major setback in the insurer's turnaround plan.

Tensions between Hancock and Icahn began to mount after the CEO rebuffed the activist investor's proposals. Icahn has also threatened a proxy fight at AIG.

"We fully support the actions taken today by the board of AIG," Icahn tweeted on Thursday.

Icahn has argued that a split would help AIG rid itself of the regulatory burden of being a systemically important financial institution, which requires higher capital cushions.

"Without wholehearted shareholder support for my continued leadership, a protracted period of uncertainty could undermine the progress we have made and damage the interests of our policyholders, employees, regulators, debtholders, and shareholders," Hancock said in a statement.

Hancock was named president and chief executive officer in September 2014.

AIG's shares rose 2.4 percent in premarket trading. (Reporting by Nikhil Subba in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)