Kurt Watson - The Business Review (Albany):

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I think we really beganb a fairly strategic process last knowing that we were getting into a difficulteconomic period. We began to take a hard look at our particularly on the expense side of We made some difficultg decisions in 2008 thoughtful decisions, I would say on the expense side of our ledger. As a resultr of that, we are beginning to see the benefit of thosre decisions thatwere made, in 2009. I would like to thino that we got ahead of the game a littlse bitin anticipation. Thosee decisions are beginning to pay off for us in the first quarteof 2009. How has the insurance industry as a wholre performed duringthis downturn?
With the exception of a couples of notable companies like and the Hartford, in particulard — their travails have been reporteds on in a very lengthy way — has done The interesting thing about insurances is that it is a part of businessa that every company needs. You can’t run a business withoutt insurance. To a degree, that’s a positive for us rightf now. People are looking at ways to save They are being more perhaps taking on higherf deductibles and cutting some of their expensesw fromthat perspective, but they have to have For us, that meansd we have to work just as hard as we alwayes have to try to figurew out risk programs that make sens e for people in today’s market.