AIG has been stung repeatedly by higher-than-expected costs from risks that the company assumed in the past, whether from environmental liabilities or workers’ compensation policies. The New York-based company was built into the world’s largest insurer by Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, and each of the five men who held the CEO post since his 2005 departure has grappled with the insurer’s complexity.

‘Decade of Trying’

The company shrank by half as AIG sold assets to repay a 2008 bailout, and Hancock narrowed the focus further after taking over in late 2014. He sold stakes in aircraft lessor AerCap Holdings NV and lender Springleaf Holdings Inc. while parting with businesses in Central America and Taiwan.

“After a decade of trying to fix the firm, given the substantial structural disadvantages unique to AIG, we believe breaking up AIG and selling it off piece by piece to its structurally advantaged peers is simply a more realistic path to creating shareholder value,” Josh Stirling, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., said Monday in a note.

Icahn has said the insurer needs to shrink to escape its status as a systemically important financial institution, which can lead to tighter capital rules from the Federal Reserve. Hancock has said that the costs are not overly burdensome, and that the insurer will continue to be highly regulated even if it’s not a SIFI.

Chairman’s Support

“AIG believes that a full breakup in the near term would detract from, not enhance, shareholder value,” Chairman Doug Steenland said in a statement. “The board’s actions reflect its full support for the plans that Peter Hancock and his management team have put forward.”

Insurer MetLife Inc., one of the other three non-bank SIFIs, said this month that it will separate a domestic retail unit with $240 billion in assets through a sale, spinoff or public offering as CEO Steve Kandarian seeks to limit regulation. General Electric Co. said last week that it is targeting a March exit of too-big-to-fail status after wrapping up deals to sell commercial lending assets and unload a Utah bank charter.