Hartford Life Recognized for Superior Service in 2008

Business Editors

SIMSBURY, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--January 22, 2009--The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., (NYSE: HIG), one of the nation’s largest diversified financial services companies, today announced that its Life operations, for the 13 th year in a row, have won an impressive number of customer service awards. The seven 2008 DALBAR Awards received this year highlight the company’s focus and dedication to consistently deliver exceptional customer service.

“Continuously delivering and improving on exceptional customer experience is always a top priority,” said Sharon Ritchey, executive vice president and director, Global Operations and Technology Group. “We are especially proud to receive this recognition for superior service during a challenging time for the financial services industry, when customer service is truly tested.”

The service awards are based on systematic testing of customer service over the course of the year. DALBAR conducts thousands of tests to measure how financial companies respond to the needs for service from their customers. Companies that exceed a variety of industry benchmarks after one year of testing earn the DALBAR Service Award.

2008 DALBAR Awards were received in the following categories:

Annuity Service Award – for excellence in the service delivered to annuity contract holders. The Hartford is the only company in the industry to achieve this award for 13 consecutive years.
Mutual Fund Service Award – for excellence in the service delivered to mutual fund investors, marking the sixth consecutive year achieving this level of excellence.
Life Insurance Service Award – for excellence in the service delivered to life insurance policy holders, marking the eighth consecutive year achieving this award.
Retirement Plans Service Award – for excellence in the service delivered to plan participants, marking the sixth consecutive year achieving this recognition.
Financial Intermediary Service Award/Post Sale, Life Insurance – for excellence in the service delivered to financial intermediaries post sale, marking the seventh time the team garnered this recognition.
Financial Intermediary Service Award/Pre Sale, Mutual Funds – for excellence in the pre-sale support provided to financial intermediaries, marking the third consecutive year that PLANCO, Hartford Life’s wholesaling group, has achieved this award (one for every year PLANCO entered).
Financial Intermediary Service Award/Pre Sale, Annuities – for excellence in the pre-sale support provided to financial intermediaries, marking the fifth consecutive year that PLANCO has achieved this level of excellence.

“The current market conditions have tested us all and the service centers of the financial services industry in particular,” said Csilla von Csky, managing director, DALBAR. “Achieving these awards during this trying financial climate is a testament to the commitment and dedication of The Hartford to their customers and their unwavering efforts to do the right thing under the most challenging of circumstances.”

In addition to the recognition from DALBAR, Hartford Life individual annuities have earned its 10 th consecutive Operations Management Roundtable (OMR) service award. The company received the highest overall score and placed in the top quartiles across all categories.

The OMR represents 20 top broker-dealer firms, which annually evaluate operations and service provided by 16 insurance companies that sell individual annuities. Companies that participate in the OMR survey are rated in six categories: licensing and appointments, new business/premium processing, commissions, financial and non-financial transactions, operations relationship with the broker-dealer and systems support technology.

About The Hartford

The Hartford, a Fortune 100 company, is one of the nation's largest diversified financial services companies, with 2007 revenues of $25.9 billion. The Hartford is a leading provider of investment products, life insurance and group benefits; automobile and homeowners products; and business property and casualty insurance. International operations are located in Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil and Ireland. The Hartford's Internet address is www.thehartford.com.

About DALBAR

DALBAR, Inc., the nation’s leading financial services market research and consulting firm, is committed to raising the standards of excellence in the financial services industry. With offices in both the U.S. and Canada, DALBAR develops standards for and provides research, ratings and rankings of intangible factors to the mutual fund, broker/dealer, life insurance, property and casualty and managed account industries. They include investor behavior, customer satisfaction, service quality, communications, Internet services and financial professional ratings.

HIG-L

Some of the statements in this release may be considered forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. 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. These important risks and uncertainties include those discussed in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our 2007 Annual Report on Form 10-K and the other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligation to update this release, which speaks as of the date issued.