DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (HIG) plans to appoint
Chief Financial Officer Lizabeth Zlatkus to be the insurer's chief
risk officer as the company beefs up risk management after last
year's financial crisis.
The struggling life insurer is launching an external search for
Zlatkus's successor, and she will remain finance chief until a new
one is named.
Both executives will report directly to Chairman and Chief
Executive Liam E. McGee, who said one of his priorities is "to
elevate the role of risk management. McGee, a former head of
consumer banking at Bank of America Corp. (BAC), was named Hartford
chief executive last month, succeeding Ramani Ayer, who led the
company's aggressive move into variable annuities. Ayer announced
in June that he would retire at the end of this year.
A number of other executives have left the insurer, which has
been hit hard by its sales of variable annuities, which left it
with big potential liabilities when the stock market tumbled.
In July, Hartford said it swung to a second-quarter loss, its
fourth in a row, on bigger investment losses. The company received
$3.4 billion from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief
Program earlier this year.
Its shares rose 0.3% to $24.40 in after-hours trading. The stock
has gained half its value this year, but is flat with a year
ago.
-By Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2357;
Kathy.Shwiff@dowjones.com