HARTFORD MAY GAIN IN MERGER:

The Hartford community has been encouraged by signs that it may not lose as many of its close to 6,000 jobs at Travelers Insurance as first feared when St. Paul acquires the high-profile insurer. In fact, Hartford stands to gain jobs. Although the corporate headquarters of The St. Paul Travelers Cos. will be in St. Paul, Minn., significant operations will be run from Hartford. Documents filed by Travelers with the state insurance department prior to the Feb. 10 public hearing suggest that not only is Hartford likely to remain headquarters for the combined company’s sizable commercial lines (which will represent 44 percent of combined net written premium of the merged entity) and personal lines (24 percent) divisions, but also the combined surety operations will be stationed in Hartford. In addition, leadership of the information systems and technology operations will also set up shop in Hartford. St. Paul will assume the investment and payroll management services of Travelers that Travelers had outsourced to Citigroup outside Connecticut. Travelers used to be a division of Citigroup before it was spun off in 2002. Travelers has not detailed the employment impact of the deal, preferring to stress that it will seek savings from real estate leases, purchasing and supplies, and service contracts. But its filings maintain the new “growth platform” should provide “new opportunities for existing and future employees.”