Travelers Cuts CEO Fishman’s Bonus 28% as Insurer Misses Targets

Travelers Cos. cut Chief Executive Officer Jay Fishman’s bonus 28 percent after missing financial goals in the insurer’s least profitable year since 2004.

Fishman’s award was reduced to $4.5 million from $6.25 million in 2010, the New York-based company said today in a regulatory filing. Total compensation, including stock and option awards, fell to $16.5 million from $19.8 million.

“The cash bonus amounts reflect the fact that the company did not achieve its 2011 target for unadjusted operating return on equity, and operating income per share declined from 2010 levels,” according to the filing.

Fishman, who is also chairman, cut about 1,400 jobs last year, or 4.4 percent of the workforce, as costs from natural disasters and near-record low bond yields pressured results. Net income slipped to $1.43 billion last year from $3.22 billion in 2010. Travelers said that some of the decline was beyond the control of mangers who showed “superior individual performance.”

Travelers advanced 6.2 percent in New York trading last year, compared with the 5.5 percent advance in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Frye in New York at afrye@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Kraut at dkraut2@bloomberg.net