AIG fourth quarter results exceeded the company's expectations despite an over zealous regulatory environment, AIG chairman Hank Greenberg said.

The insurer said net income in the fourth quarter jumped 11.5% to $3.02bn from $2.7bn a year earlier. Share prices had risen from $1.03 in the 2003 fourth quarter to $1.15 in 2004.

For the year AIG reported net income of $3.29bn, or $1.26 per share, compared with $9.27bn, or $3.52 per share in 2003.

Greenberg said the company had managed to maintain strong growth despite record catastrophe losses and a stringent regulatory environment.

AIG had been named in the lawsuit brought against Marsh & McLennan by New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer. It was also at the centre of a US Securities and Exchange Commission investigation regarding its dealing with PNC Financial Services.

Greenberg slammed regulators for forcing a new regulatory era on US insurers.

“I think there is a recognition that, while there are reforms necessary, many have gone too far,” he said.

Such a heavy-handed approach could be a drag on the US economy if it continued, he said.

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