The Hartford Amends Bylaws Allowing Shareholders Proxy Access

The Hartford’s board of directors today approved an amendment to the company’s bylaws, enabling eligible shareholders to nominate their own director candidates in the company’s proxy statement. The Hartford’s Board has been diligently monitoring the proxy access debate and proactively took this action to enhance the company’s governance practices.

“The Hartford is a recognized leader in corporate governance, and we regularly engage with and value the input of our shareholders,” said The Hartford’s Presiding Director Thomas Renyi. “Our board proactively adopted proxy access today, consistent with our long-standing commitment to strong corporate governance and responsiveness to shareholders.”

As a result, the amended bylaws include the following:

• A shareholder, or group of up to 20 shareholders, may nominate a director and have the nominee included in the company’s proxy statement;
• The shareholder, or group collectively, must have held at least 3 percent of the company’s common stock for three years in order to make a nomination; and
• The shareholder, or group, may nominate as many as two directors, or a number of directors equal to 20 percent of the board, whichever is greater.

Proxy access rights will first be available to shareholders in connection with The Hartford’s 2017 annual shareholders meeting. The board also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share of common stock today. The quarterly dividend is payable on Oct. 3, 2016, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Sept. 1, 2016.

About The Hartford

The Hartford is a leader in property and casualty insurance, group benefits and mutual funds. With more than 200 years of expertise, The Hartford is widely recognized for its service excellence, sustainability practices, trust and integrity. More information on the company and its financial performance is available at https://www.thehartford.com. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TheHartford_PR.

The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., (NYSE: HIG) operates through its subsidiaries under the brand name, The Hartford, and is headquartered in Hartford, Conn. For additional details, please read The Hartford’s legal notice.

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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 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Forms 10-Q, 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.

From time to time, The Hartford may use its website to disseminate material company information. Financial and other important information regarding The Hartford is routinely accessible through and posted on our website at https://ir.thehartford.com. In addition, you may automatically receive email alerts and other information about The Hartford when you enroll your email address by visiting the “Email Alerts” section at https://ir.thehartford.com.

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