Posted On: November 18, 2008, 10:29 am CST

Posted By: Ex Hartford

How far HIG has fallen. This is a last gasp for them to remain solvent. A shame as they are a pretty well run company that treats their employees fairly. They are the best employer (agency or company) that I had in my 15 years in the insurance industry.

Back in 2004 I met Ramani Ayer at a company meeting. I asked him what plans the company was making for their 200th anniversary in 2010. He said something like "we just want to make it that far" and got a big laugh from the crowd.

Now there is the very real prospect they will be gone in a few months. Amazing. CNA, for over a decade on a shaky financial roller coaster, is still alive. Travelers/St Paul combined, confused the heck out of their agents but is surviving. Chubb appearing to do ok, as expected. If you would have told me two years ago that Cincy would be worth 2.5x HIG I'd have laughed in your face. Now they are laughing.

Hartford always had the best financials and the conservative operating philosophy, diversified their risk well and had a good mix between life & P/C. They avoided getting involved in much in the way of mortgage backed securities (I remember a company memo saying this when I was still there) but got dragged down in the whole credit default swap pile of crap.

And that is what sucks: the company still runs well but their investments have hosed them, with the failure of AIG leading the way.

I'm glad I'm out of the financial services industry. It appears that no matter who I might work for they are merely a few months away from a few bad decisions blowing up centuries of work.

Nathaniel Terry is weeping.