American International Group has announced the retirement of Robert Lewis, the company's first and only chief risk officer. The company plans to name a successor to Lewis soon. For the time being, Lewis will remain with the company during a transitional period, CEO Robert Benmosche wrote in an AIG memo.

Lewis joined AIG in 1993 as a vice president and chief credit officer and was part of the company’s early efforts to build a credit risk management function, according to the memo. Over the years, the scope of his responsibilities increased across the risk management function. He was elected AIG senior vice president in May 2003, and named chief risk officer in July 2004.

Three months earlier, Lewis had appeared before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, an investigative panel convened by Congress to examine causes of the financial crisis. Lewis told the Commission that the economic downturn had caused AIG to find itself short on liquidity. In September 2008, the insurance giant received a $182 billion taxpayer bailout.