The Hartford Financial Services Group is planning to downsize in the coming months in an effort to make operations more efficient. The company is one of the largest investment and insurance organizations in the country and has been met with lingering financial woes since the 2008 recession. Downsizing will come in the form of staff reduction and the selling off of one of its fringe units: Trumbull Services, which served the property and casualty insurance industry.
The company has been consistently downsizing – or streamlining – since late 2008 in the hopes of retaining solvency. As a result of the defunct housing market, The Hartford has been posting quarterly losses with very little sign of improvement since the recession. This is in spite of a government bailout provided to the company in 2009, as well as investments from other insurance organizations, such as Allianz.
The Hartford will also be selling off Trumbull Services, an outsourcing service serving the insurance industry. This will help the company focus on its core businesses, according to company officials. Trumbull Services has been sold to ExlService Holdings, a similar outsourcing firm based in New York. Former Trumbull employees will be absorbed into ExlService where they will fill similar positions.
The Hartford’s financial troubles seem to echo the same problems plaguing other companies that received government money in the wake of the recession. Whether the company will be able to recover from these problems is yet to be seen.
