In an attempt to clarify "certain misperceptions" about Goldman Sachs' positions with AIG, David A. Viniar, Goldman's Chief Financial Officer reiterated at a Friday conference call that the company's direct losses would have been negligible even if AIG had not been rescued by the federal government.

Saying that Goldman had rejected offers to settle trades with AIG at a discount, Viniar added: "We had commercial contracts with AIG. We entered into these contracts on commercial terms. We were fully hedged with either credit default swaps or collateral, so we were not in a position to take a loss."

Right from the outset, Goldman has been saying that its exposure to AIG's troubles was of no consequence, particularly due to the fact that it had protection in the form of outside hedges. Elaborating on similar lines, Viniar told the reporters that Goldman was persistently reinforcing that it "did not have a significant economic exposure to AIG."

The clarifications from the Goldman CFO came after recent criticism about the investment bank's relationship with the New York-based insurer, which had received a $182.5 billion federal bailout in order to avert disintegration - more so as Goldman, with $12.9 billion, turned out to be one of the biggest recipients of the AIG money, which flowed to different trading counterparties, mostly big financial institutions!