By Steve Eder and Paritosh Bansal

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two former chief executives who were criticized during the financial crisis for driving their firms to the brink have found new homes.

Former American International Group Inc <AIG.N> Chief Executive Martin Sullivan, who was ousted three months before the U.S. government bailed out AIG in 2008, is joining insurance broker Willis Group Holdings Plc <WSH.N>.

Former CIT Group Inc <CIT.N> Chief Executive Jeffrey Peek, whose plans to turn the sleepy commercial lender into a Wall Street player were laid low by the credit crisis, has joined Barclays Capital <BARC.L>.

The two are the latest among a series of senior financial services executives who are finding new roles after being displaced by the financial crisis.

Other executives who found new jobs include John Thain, Thomas Russo and Gregory Fleming.

Thain, who was pushed out as CEO after Merrill Lynch was bought by Bank of America Corp <BAC.N>, now heads CIT. Russo, a former top lawyer at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc <LEHMQ.PK>, is now AIG's general counsel. Fleming, a former Merrill Lynch president and chief operating officer, is at Morgan Stanley <MS.N>.

At Willis, the world's third-largest insurance broker, Sullivan will be a deputy chairman reporting to the chief executive and he will head up a new unit that oversees brokerage and risk management services for global customers.

That Sullivan will work in risk management has raised some eyebrows among analysts who followed the near-collapse of AIG in September 2008.

Sullivan was at the helm of the insurance giant from 2005 until 2008, leaving shortly before it received a pledge of up to $182 billion from U.S. taxpayers to address problems at its financial products division.

"Obviously, Sullivan's reputation was tainted by the events that occurred at AIG," said David Havens, an analyst at Nomura Securities International in New York.

"But for most of his career, he was a client guy, someone who rubbed elbows with brokers, underwriters and customers. He was well known in the property and casualty insurance industry."

Barclays is counting on Peek's long experience in the financial services sector, which spans more than three decades, including positions in investment banking, asset management and securities research.

Peek joins Barclays as vice chairman in the investment banking division, where he will act as senior counsel to clients across the firm, with a particular focus on financial services.

Peek retired from CIT in January after having led the firm since 2003. Over that period, he tried to transform CIT into a smaller version of a Wall Street firm, expanding investment banking and merger advisory, and pushing into student and subprime mortgage finance.

But in 2007, the credit crunch began shutting down the bond markets that were CIT's lifeblood. As CIT's borrowing costs surged, its profits turned into losses, eventually forcing the company to seek reorganization under bankruptcy protection.

(Reporting by Paritosh Bansal and Steve Eder; additional reporting by Dan Wilchins; editing by Andre Grenon)