Brian Duperreault is to vacate his position as chief executive officer of American International Group and become executive chairman.

He will be succeeded by AIG president Peter Zaffino on March 1.

Mr Duperreault, who was born in Bermuda, is a veteran of the insurance industry, and has been at the helm of AIG since he replaced Peter Hancock in 2017.

He said: “I want to thank the AIG directors for their continued support and congratulate Peter on his well-deserved election as the next chief executive officer of AIG. Peter has been instrumental in the significant turnaround and transformation at AIG and his vision, determination and pursuit of excellence will help ensure the company’s future success.”

Mr Duperreault, 73, moved up through the ranks of AIG early in his career, leaving in 1994 to build Ace, now Chubb, from a small operator into a global operation. Before rejoining AIG three years ago he was CEO and co-founder of Bermudian-based Hamilton Insurance Group.

Douglas Steenland, speaking on behalf of the AIG board, said: “We are grateful to Brian for his leadership and expertise in guiding the strategic repositioning of AIG’s businesses as market leaders and we look forward to his ongoing contributions as executive chairman. We are extremely fortunate to have an executive of Peter’s calibre and have great confidence about the future of the company under his leadership.”

Mr Steenland is the independent chairman of the board. He will become lead independent director of the board on March 1 as part of the leadership transitions.

Meanwhile, Mr Zaffino said: “I am honoured to succeed Brian as chief executive officer of AIG and want to thank him and the AIG board of directors for this opportunity. I look forward to leading AIG’s next phase on our journey to becoming a top performing company.”

Separately, the company announced a pre-tax catastrophe loss estimate of $790 million for the third quarter, including about $185 million of losses related to Covid-19.

Mr Duperreault said: “The third quarter experienced a high frequency of global catastrophe events with low to moderate severity, including the ongoing impact of Covid-19. These events have had a limited impact on AIG as a result of our underwriting discipline, reinsurance programs, revamped risk appetite and the strength of our balance sheet.”

The company has also announced it intends to separate the life and retirement business from AIG. It will report third quarter financial results after the market closes on November 5.