Standard & Poor's has revised its outlook on the property-casualty operations of Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. to stable from negative.

The agency said the move came as a result of the decreasing likelihood that current regulatory investigations as a whole could materially affect Hartford property-casualty's reputation and competitive advantage.

Hartford is one of the carriers mentioned in civil suits bought by private parties and the New York Attorney general last year that alleged they were part of brokerage bid-rigging schemes that saw insurers making contingency fee payments to get business.

"In 2005, Hartford PC's underwriting performance is expected to continue to benefit from a strong rate environment that existed through the first half of 2004," said S&P analyst John Iten.

Earlier this month, the company said that operating income from the property-casualty operations in the second quarter of this year rose 96 percent compared to the same period last year. The combined ratio was 87.

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