Eric Dinallo, who resigned last month after two years as New York’s insurance superintendent, announced his intent to become the state’s next attorney general in 2010.

Eric Dinallo

Under Dinallo, New York led much of the efforts to save American International Group, which obtained nearly $180 billion in federal bailout funding over the last year to prevent the global insurer from failing. As head of one of the largest states, he also led the state’s push to develop new rules regarding contingent commissions paid to agent and brokers.

In an e-mail to reporters, Dinallo said he filed his papers with the New York State Elections to form a campaign finance committee, according to Reuters.

“My intent is to enter the race to succeed Andrew Cuomo as New York’s next attorney general in the event that he decides not to seek reelection,” Dinallo’s e-mail read, the report said.

While he has not officially announced his run for governor, there is widespread speculation that Cuomo will challenge incumbent David A. Paterson.

In May, Paterson announced that Dinallo would leave his post overseeing the New York State Insurance Department July 3 to become the Henry Kaufman Visiting Professor of Finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Dinallo was confirmed as insurance superintendent by the New York Senate April 18, 2007, previously serving as general counsel for Willis Group Holdings. He also served as chief of the securities bureau for former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, conducting financial investigations, and was a former assistant district attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s office.

Spitzer later nominated Dinallo for the insurance superintendent post upon winning election a New York governor.

Because so many insurance companies are based in New York, the attorney general’s office, working closely with the insurance superintendent’s office, often take leadership roles in both the investigation of carriers’ actions and the development of new rules and regulations to address these issues. The resulting legislation or regulations are often later adopted by other states.