Jeffrey Greenberg, the chief executive and chairman of Marsh & McLennan Cos., is expected to resign from the insurance brokerage, the Financial Times Web site reported late Friday.
The move is expected to help ignite settlement talks with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who sued the company and it Marsh Inc. insurance broking subsidiary last week, accusing them of rigging bids in the insurance market favoring insurers at the expense of clients.
Spitzer reportedly said he wouldn’t negotiate with the current Marsh & MacLennan management and encouraged directors at the company that they should consider replacing Greenberg. Jules Kroll, the former head and founder of Kroll, the private investigation group that Marsh acquired earlier this year, is being considered as an interim CEO replacement, FT.com reported.
Putnam Investments, another Marsh & Mac subsidiary, has been the subject of a Spitzer probe. Another unit of the company, Mercer Consulting, is a subject in a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into consultant’s methods of deciding which money managers to recommend to pension-fund clients, according to FT.com.
Spitzer’s inquiry has also targeted Greenberg’s father, Maurice Greenberg, the chairman and chief executive of insurance giant American International Group, and his brother, Evan Greenberg, head of Ace Ltd., a large Bermuda property-casualty insurer. Their companies were also named in Spitzer’s lawsuit against Marsh & McLennan.
Kroll is being considered as Jeffrey Greenberg’s successor because he is well-respected on Wall Street and has experience in crisis management, according to the Web site.
