To hold on to an investment advisory unit that is part of the insurer's retirement services group

Robert Benmosche, the new CEO of AIG, has begun to slash the company’s restructuring plan, in order to hold on to an investment advisory unit that is part of the insurer’s retirement services group – reported Reuters.

The move shows that the CEO may recast an earlier restructuring plan to repay taxpayers, after AIG racked up more than $80 billion in loans from the US Federal Reserve and Treasury. Mr. Benmosche took AIG’s helm on August 10. He is expected to draw on his previous experience as chief executive of MetLife to help drive asset sales.

American International Group has been strugglling to find buyers for its larger properties, hampered by tighter credit markets. That led the company to hatch an alternate plan to sell stakes in some units through initial public offerings.

The federal loans helped stabilise AIG after it ran up massive losses on investments that soured as the US housing market collapsed.

The unit had previously gone by the name AIG Financial Advisors but like numerous other parts of the insurer, it recently re-branded away from the AIG name. The companies have adopted new names to try to distance themselves from the AIG brand, which is now badly tarnished after the company’s near collapse, as quoted in Reuters.