SEC Order Keeps Some AIG Bailout Terms Sealed Until 2018

It could take until November 2018 to get the full story behind the U.S. bailout of insurance giant American International Group because of an action taken last year by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In May, the SEC approved a request by AIG to keep secret an exhibit to a year-old regulatory filing that includes some of the details on the most controversial aspect of the AIG bailout: the funneling of tens of billions of dollars to big banks like Societe Generale, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch.

The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, in granting AIG’s request for confidential treatment, said the “excluded information” will not be made public until Nov. 25, 2018, according to a copy of the agency’s May 22 order.

The SEC said the insurer had demonstrated the information in the exhibit, called Schedule A, “qualifies as confidential commercial or financial information.”

All the banks that got money from the Fed-sponsored entity — Maiden Lane III — had purchased insurance contracts, or credit default swaps, on those mortgage-related securities from AIG. Maiden Lane III was set up to specifically acquire some $60 billion in collateralized debt obligations from 16 banks in the United States and Europe.

The SEC’s decision to approve AIG’s request for confidential treatment got scant attention at the time. But it could spark controversy now following the release of 14-month-old emails that reveal that some at the New York Fed had discussions with AIG officials about how much information should be disclosed to the public about the Fed-sponsored entity, Maiden Lane III transaction.