AIG caved in to political pressure Sunday and released a list of some of the financial counterparties that benefited from its $160bn US government rescue, including some of Europe’s largest banks.

The list’s publication came after weeks of mounting anger on Capitol Hill that lifelines of public money had been extended to AIG without a clear indication of where the money had gone.

Lawmakers have said that without full disclosure of AIG’s counterparties, Congress would not vote for more money for stabilising the financial system.

AIG has sold hundreds of billions of dollars of credit insurance through AIG Financial Products – the unit that contributed most heavily to the company’s near-collapse in September.

The insurer, which is now attempting to unwind that financial exposure, issued details Sunday on some of the payments it had made to counterparties using emergency government loans.

AIG paid out $22.4bn of collateral related to credit default swaps, $27.1bn to help cancel swaps and another $43.7bn to satisfy the obligations of its securities lending operation. The payments were made between September 16 and the end of last year.

Goldman Sachs, which has also accepted US government support, received payments worth $12.9bn. Three European banks – France’s Société Générale, Germany’s Deutsche Bank and the UK’s Barclays – were paid the next-largest amounts. SocGen received $11.9bn; Deutsche $11.8bn; and Barclays $7.9bn.

Many European banks used AIG’s credit insurance to keep from having to hold capital against their long-term securities holdings. Wall Street banks also used swaps to hedge their subprime mortgage-backed securities portfolios.

A spokeswoman for the US Federal Reserve said Sunday that AIG’s collateral payments were based on “contracts that don’t differentiate domestic versus international companies”. She said the Fed’s aid to AIG helped all of its counterparties, which range from global banks to individual insurance policyholders.

In a fractious hearing on March 5, senators criticised Don Kohn, Fed vice-chairman, for failing to push for publication of the list.

At the time, Mr Kohn said: “I would be very concerned if we started revealing lists of names of companies that did transactions” with AIG. Such publication could rebound not just on the counterparties but on other US financial institutions operating in the same markets, he said.

Under pressure from lawmakers, the Fed went back to AIG and worked out a compromise schedule of publication.

Now that the list is public, the large number of foreign banks that have received money as a byproduct of AIG’s rescue has the potential to cause fresh anger on Capitol Hill. Congress has expressed concern at allowing taxpayer money to leak abroad or to foreign workers.

Nick Ashooh, AIG spokesman, said the group has made headway in its attempts to reduce its exposure to credit default swaps and other derivatives. The notional value of its derivatives exposure has dropped to about $1,600bn from about $2,700bn a year ago, and its CDS exposure has been cut from $433bn to $302bn.

AIG stoked more ire in Washington over the weekend when it became apparent the company would pay $165m in retention bonuses Sunday to employees of AIG Financial Products.

AIG chief Edward Liddy said the bonuses represented “legal, binding obligations”, but said AIG would make a range of compensation cuts in the unit this year.

Mr Liddy also expressed concern that AIG could have difficulty attracting and retaining talent if “employees believe that their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the US Treasury.”

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