NEW YORK (Bloomberg) - American International Group Inc. (AIG), the world's biggest insurer by assets, has spoken with regulators about changing the accounting rules that forced the company to record an $11.1 billion fourth-quarter writedown.

AIG believes the value of some investments isn't best reflected by rules that require the insurer estimate the price it would get for selling them at the end of each quarter, spokesman Chris Winans said on Friday in an interview. A projection of the "maximum possible loss" on investments the company continues to hold is a more useful number to investors, Mr. Winans said.

"We've discussed an idea with various regulators and other interested parties in the market," Mr. Winans said. He declined to name the regulators. AIG's discussions were reported earlier by the Financial Times.

The fourth-quarter writedown on contracts protecting fixed- income investors against default pushed New York-based AIG into the biggest loss in its 89-year history. The company has said that most of the losses will reverse over time. AIG said it may lose $900 million on the so-called credit- default swaps, which is "a more accurate estimate of the maximum possible loss in a severe stress-test scenario," Mr. Winans said.