Deutsche Bank sides AIG against Icahn

• Calling Carl Icahn an "activist agitator," analyst Joshua Shanker says it's a foolish short-term move to sell a high ROE business like United Guaranty (AIG's mortgage insurance operation) and plow the money into buybacks. Such a move could very well prove to be ROE-destructive rather than accretive (the exception would be if AIG could find a buyer willing to pay too high a price for United).
• It would be a better idea, he says, to sell low ROE businesses near book value and instead use that money to return capital.
• There's also no guaranty a sale would allow AIG to unburden itself of its SIFI status, says Shanker, and besides the SIFI designation has no effect on AIG's business and imposes no capital constraints on the company.