Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (HIG)
Q3 2009 Earnings Call Transcript
November 4, 2009 8:00 a.m. ET

Executives

Richard Costello – Investor Relations
Liam E. McGee – Chairman and Chief Executive officer
Lizabeth H. Zlatkus – Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Greg McGreevey – Executive Vice President, Chief Investment Officer and President of The Hartford Investment Management Company
Juan C. Andrade – President and Chief Operating Officer of Property and Casualty Operations
John Clinton Walters – Executive Vice President and Chief Operating officer of Life Operations
Alan Kreczko – General Counsel

Analysts

Edward Spehar – BofA Merrill Lynch
Thomas Gallagher – Credit Suisse
Paul Sarran – Fox–Pitt Kelton
Jay Cohen – BofA Merrill Lynch
Eric Berg – Barclays Capital
Ian Gutterman – Adage Capital Management
John Nadel – Sterne, Agee & Leach
Jeffrey Schuman – Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Presentation

Operator

Good morning. My name is Nikisha and I will be your conference operator. At this time, I’d like to welcome everyone to The Hartford Third Quarter 2009 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you’d like to ask a question during this time, simply press star then the number on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press the pound key. Thank you, Mr. Costello. You may begin.

Richard Costello

Thank you, Nikisha. Good morning and thank you for joining us for The Hartford’s third quarter 2009 financial results conference call. Our earnings release, 10-Q and financial supplement were issued yesterday. In addition, the slide presentation for this morning’s call is available on our website.

Liam McGee, our new Chairman and CEO and Liz Zlatkus, our CFO, will provide prepared remarks this morning and we will conclude with Q&A. Also participating on today’s call are Juan Andrade, President and COO of the Property and Casualty Company; John Walters, President and COO of the Life Company; Greg McGreevey, Chief Investment Officer and Alan Kreczko, General Counsel.

Turning to the presentation, on slide two, please note that we will make certain statements during the call that should be considered forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include statements about The Hartford’s future results of operation.

We caution investors that these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially. Investors should consider the important risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ, including those discussed in our press release issued yesterday, our quarterly reports on Form 10–Q, our 2008 annual report on Form 10-K and other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligation to update this presentation, which speaks as of today’s date.

Today’s discussion of The Hartford’s financial performance includes financial measures that are not derived from generally accepted accounting principles or GAAP. Information regarding these non–GAAP and other financial measures, including reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, is provided in the Investor Financial Supplement for the third quarter of 2009, in the press release we issued yesterday and in the Investor Relations section of The Hartford’s website at www.thehartford.com.

Now, I will hand the call over to The Hartford’s Chairman and CEO, Liam McGee.

Liam E. McGee

Thank you, Rick and good morning, everyone and thank you for joining us for our third quarter earnings call. First, it is an honor to take the helm of The Hartford, a 200-year-old company with a great heritage and future. I have been warmly welcomed by The Hartford team and have met many talented and dedicated leaders. I also want to thank Ramani for his help in making the transition smooth and constructive.

Having been CEO of The Hartford for just a month, I’ll focus my remarks today on some observations and initial perspectives. Then Liz will cover the third quarter results.

I have spent the last month diving headfirst into all key areas of the company to develop an understanding of the business, our strengths, the challenges we face and the opportunities we have. I have met with many of our key stakeholders, including some of you. And what I have found is that this company’s operating franchises are stable and performing well.

The company today has a strong capital foundation and although we do face some challenges, I am confident that The Hartford, with its strengths, is focused on the path forward to earnings and growth. The Hartford’s third quarter core earnings demonstrate a resilient company that is emerging from the challenges of the last 18 months.