Hartford splits life operations into 4 divisions

NEW YORK May 29 (Reuters) - Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG.N) said on Thursday it is restructuring its life insurance operations into four units that correspond to different customer segments, in a bid to better position the company to tap new business opportunities.

John Walters, chief operating officer of Hartford Life, will continue to oversee the business, reorganized into individual, employer, institutional and international market groups.

Hartford's life operations, which are based in Simsbury, Connecticut, were previously split into two product groups, U.S. wealth management and international wealth management and group benefits.

"With this new structure in place, we can better align all of our resources -- financial, talent, product development and distribution -- around our most important assets, our customers," said Walters, in a statement.

By channeling resources to specific customer segments, Hartford said it believes it can better serve clients, and be in a strong position to grow its life insurance and investment businesses, both in the U.S. and internationally.

Specifically, Hartford sees strong opportunities in the global retirement market, a spokesman said.

Hartford's life operations had $370 billion in assets under management at the end of the first quarter, a 10 percent increase from a year earlier, largely driven by an acquisition of retirement plan transactions and strong deposits from mutual funds. Hartford's life operations recorded a net loss of $155 million in the period, due to losses on investments and the effect of a new accounting method. (Reporting by Lilla Zuill; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)