SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
SCHEDULE 14A INFORMATION
Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 (Amendment No. )
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[_] Soliciting Material Pursuant to Section 240.14a-12
THE HARTFORD FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP, INC.
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April 21, 2000
THE HARTFORD FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP, INC.
2000 PROXY STATEMENT
REVISION TO ITEM 5--SHAREHOLDER PROPOSAL
Dear Shareholder:
Our Proxy Statement dated April 20, 2000, for the Annual Meeting of
Shareholders to be held on May 18, 2000, did not include an amendment to the
proposal relating to tobacco investments, which was changed by the proposer to
exclude investments held in separate accounts. The following disclosure
regarding Item 5 replaces and supersedes the full discussion of that proposal
on pages 33 and 34 of your Proxy Statement.
ITEM 5
SHAREHOLDER PROPOSAL RELATING TO TOBACCO INVESTMENTS
St. Joseph Health System of 440 South Batavia Street, Orange, California is
the beneficial owner of at least 200 shares of Common Stock and has advised
the Company that it intends to present the following proposal at the Annual
Meeting. The proposal is included in this Proxy Statement pursuant to the
applicable rules of the SEC. The Company is not responsible for the contents
or language of the proposal, which is set forth in italic type and between
quotation marks. The Board of Directors, for the reasons set forth below,
recommends a vote "AGAINST" the proposal.
"WHEREAS, a July 7-9, 1995 editorial in USA Today declared:
Here's a grubby little health-care news item: According to a commentary
in the upcoming edition of the British medical journal Lancet, major
U.S. health insurers are large investors in major U.S. tobacco
companies. In other words, the nation's merchants of care are partners
with the nation's merchants of death . . . These investments grate and
gall. Every year, tobacco use is fatal for thousands of Americans. For
insurers to provide health care for those suffering smokers on the one
hand while investing in the source of their misery on the other is
unconscionable. And hypocritical.
. As shareholders, we are concerned about the ethical implications of
investments in the tobacco industry by companies that sell life insurance,
especially when they are paying out hundreds of millions of dollars to
patients who are sick and dying as a result of tobacco use.
. In 1994 the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention released an article
entitled, "Medical-Care Expenditures Attributable to Cigarette Smoking,
United States--1993." The study found that smoking-related disease in the
U.S.A. has an enormous economic impact. In 1993, it is estimated that the
direct medical costs associated with smoking totaled $30 billion. Such
findings have led the State of Louisiana to add insurers to its Medicaid
reimbursement litigation against the tobacco industry.
. In 1996 the AMA called for mutual funds and health-conscious investors to
refuse to own stock in tobacco companies, and for those same investors to
divest from stocks and bonds in tobacco companies.
. We believe it is inconsistent for an insurance company that sells life
insurance to invest in tobacco equities and yet give preferential rates to
non-smokers. Therefore we believe that the company should seriously review
its stand related to these apparently contradictory positions on tobacco.
RESOLVED: that shareholders request the Board to initiate a policy mandating
no further purchases of tobacco equities in insurance portfolios unless it can
be proven that tobacco use does not cause the illnesses and deaths that have
been attributed to it, and that the company divest itself of all tobacco
stocks by January 1, 2001. The foregoing shall not apply to assets maintained
in "separate accounts".
Supporting Statement
Our Company exists to help people keep healthy. We support people not using
tobacco, yet have no policy against investing in companies producing its
products. Allstate, Chubb, UNUM, and other companies that sell life insurance
have policies and/or practices that have resulted in prohibitions or
limitations on their various investments in tobacco companies. Institutions
like Harvard and Johns Hopkins, as well as The Maryland Retirement and Pension
Systems have divested from all tobacco stocks. As the editorial noted above
concludes: "Insurers have a responsibility to maximize returns. But they have
a responsibility to hold down costs too. Investing in tobacco while charging
premiums based in part on the cost of treating tobacco-related illness mocks
that obligation." If you agree that our Company should not contribute to
peoples' illness and death by investing in tobacco, please vote YES for this
resolution."
The Board Of Directors' Response To Shareholder Proposal
The Board of Directors believes that, as a matter of principle, the
investment policy decisions of the Company should be made with the best
interests of all shareholders in mind under the guidance of the Board and its
Finance Committee. The Board has a fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder
value which it believes is best accomplished through maintenance of a well
diversified portfolio. A diversified portfolio structure provides maximum
returns with the lowest possible risk. To exclude an entire industry group,
such as tobacco, could impede the Company's ability to achieve these results.
To this end, the Board has developed a comprehensive investment policy which
it continually and carefully monitors. The Board believes that adoption of the
shareholder proposal would inhibit its ability to fulfill this fiduciary
responsibility.
Investing in tobacco equities may raise social issues compelling to some of
the Company's shareholders. However, the Board's duty is to represent all of
the Company's shareholders who, by virtue of sheer numbers, have diverse
social and political agendas. In any publicly traded company, shareholders are
likely to have differing opinions and strong personal views concerning the
propriety of certain business operations or investments of that company.
Despite that fact, any corporation, including the Company, would be brought to
a standstill if it was required to comply with the personal and political
concerns of each and every shareholder. Your Board believes it is of
fundamental importance that investment policy decisions continue to be made
and managed independently without attempting to monitor portfolios for
investments which may not find favor with individual shareholders.
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS UNANIMOUSLY RECOMMENDS THAT SHAREHOLDERS VOTE
"AGAINST" THE SHAREHOLDER PROPOSAL RELATING TO TOBACCO INVESTMENTS.
If you have already sent in your proxy card for the Annual Meeting and wish
to change your vote in any respect, we have enclosed a new proxy card and a
postage prepaid envelope. If you would prefer to vote by telephone or over the
Internet, please see the accompanying card for instructions on how to access
the telephone and Internet voting systems.
Very truly yours,
/s/ AMY GALLENT
Amy Gallent
Vice President and Corporate Secretary