About

Joining AIG Italy in 2011 at a time when there was no internal legal department, Diego Manzetti is responsible for the creation and operation of the legal function within the insurance giant’s Italian arm. Required to design a function that is entirely synchronised with the wider business, Manzetti arrived with legal having no involvement in any of the processes, and thus saw fit to introduce a new corporate governance structure under which legal became key consultants in the making of strategic decisions. Manzetti’s ambitious efforts included a review of internal procedures, through which he was able to convince management of the inherent value potential of a strong legal team. Manzetti also centralised management of the panel of external counsel to better control expenses, highlight the most valuable firms, identify risks and monitor litigations. Speaking of his success in establishing the department, Manzetti explains how he was able to ‘become a partner to be involved in most decisions made in relation to company strategy’, having a ‘very good’ relationship with senior management who see him as a ‘valued partner’. Manzetti also serves on the senior management team along with heads of different functions within AIG Italy. Covering a number of important transactions during his in-house career, mostly notably in 2012 Manzetti managed the Italian portion of the large transnational merger between Chartis Europe SA and Chartis Europe Limited, which was then rebranded and renamed into AIG Europe Limited.