new york (Bloomberg) — American International Group Inc. attorneys are reviewing whether the company may recover funds tied to transactions with Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the insurer's chief executive officer said.

"We have fine lawyers, we are looking at all of the activities that occurred," CEO Robert Benmosche said yesterday at AIG's annual meeting in New York after a shareholder asked about transactions with Goldman Sachs. "To the extent we find anything that was done wrong, or any harm to AIG that should not have happened, our legal staff will take appropriate actions."

Benmosche, hired in August, is seeking to stabilise a firm that reported almost $100 billion in net losses in 2008 after bad bets on mortgage-related investments including collateralised debt obligations. Collateral calls from Goldman Sachs and other investment banks forced AIG to the brink of collapse in September 2008. The insurer's bailout that year provided funds to help meet obligations to Wall Street firms.

Goldman Sachs received about $12.9 billion related to credit-default swaps and securities-lending contracts that the insurer wound down after its rescue. The Securities and Exchange Commission sued Goldman Sachs last month for misleading clients including ABN Amro Bank NV in CDO trades. Benmosche, 65, didn't specify which trades AIG is reviewing.

Mark Herr, a spokesman for AIG, and Goldman Sachs's Michael DuVally declined to comment. Goldman Sachs has said the SEC suit is unfounded.

"Goldman is a fine firm and does lots of things extraordinarily well," AIG chairman Harvey Golub said yesterday at the meeting in response to a separate shareholder question about the insurer's current relationship with the bank. "Where Goldman can serve the interests of AIG, we will work with them."

AIG dismissed Goldman Sachs from an advisory role and appointed Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp., the New York Times reported this month, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

Benmosche said the insurer's net income of $1.45 billion in the first three months of 2010 is a sign of progress at the bailed-out company.

"Our operating companies are performing well, and you can see that across the board," Benmosche said. "We're seeing better retention of our business, better retention of our employees, and you see our customers are coming back as our sales are going up."

AIG shares have gained about 43 percent this year through yesterday as Benmosche struck deals to sell two divisions for about $51 billion to help repay the bailout. Last week AIG posted the first-quarter profit, which compares with a loss of $4.35 billion in the year-earlier period.

The company's shares dropped 4.5 percent last year and 97 percent in 2008.

"The key is to make sure we have shareholder value at the end of the day," Benmosche said. Shareholders are "the lowest in the capital structure, so therefore if we have shareholder value, all of our obligations will be met, and that is the key".

AIG last week opted for the first time in four quarters against extending the period in which it is committed to supporting its plane-leasing and consumer-lending units. Benmosche said the ability of the units to obtain funds from private sources in the first quarter is a sign of AIG's revival.

The US government owns about 80 percent of AIG, a stake it took after rescuing the firm in September 2008. Fairholme Capital Management, the investment firm run by Bruce Berkowitz, has the second-largest stake. Berkowitz raised his bet on AIG's recovery by increasing holdings to 25.5 million shares, according to a filing this week.