He may remain chief executive of AIG for the rest of this year―and quite possibly next year, the one after, and the one after that. Even Maurice ("Hank") Green-berg, at 76, would admit, though, that actuarial tables point to a shorter career in front of him than behind. Rumours about Mr Greenberg's health raced through the insurance world last week, in true Kremlin-watching style, after he failed to make a rare scheduled appearance at an insurers' annual get-together in Bermuda. His absence, said his deputies, was merely a case of the flu, but worried investors sent AIG'S share price down. Even after a tanned and rested Mr Greenberg was hauled before analysts and hacks for a body check on February 25th―he was not ill, he insisted, but merely contemptuous of the Bermuda get-together's intellectual content-the share price barely recovered. As it happens, the old king has failed publicly to anoint a successor. Concern about Mr Greenberg comes at an awkward time for AIG. It has the largest share of America's commercial market and 85,000 employees, in 300 divisions, working around the world. September nth created new levels of uncertainty for the group, even though in the long run it should help to boost demand for insurance. Then came Enron's collapse, which raised a whole raft of concerns about corporate America: conflicts of interest on Wall Street, impenetrable accounting, the offshore registration of corporate vehicles, large financial exposures, unhealthy deference given to celebrity chief executives, and high share valuations. Every one of these concerns is germane to AIG.
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