Shareholders' Equity Footnote

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2012

Shareholders' Equity disclosure

Shareholders' Equity disclosure [Text Block]

7.SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY

Share Repurchase Authorization.  The Company’s board of directors has approved common share repurchase authorizations under which repurchases may be made from time to time in the open market, pursuant to pre-set trading plans meeting the requirements of Rule 10b5-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, in private transactions or otherwise.  The authorizations do not have a stated expiration date.  The timing and actual number of shares to be repurchased in the future will depend on a variety of factors, including the Company’s financial position, earnings, common share price, catastrophe losses, funding of the Company’s qualified pension plan, capital requirements of the Company’s operating subsidiaries, legal requirements, regulatory constraints, other investment opportunities (including mergers and acquisitions), market conditions and other factors.  During the three months and six months ended June 30, 2012, the Company repurchased 5.6 million and 11.6 million shares, respectively, under its share repurchase authorization, for a total cost of approximately $350 million and $700 million, respectively.  The average cost per share repurchased was $62.40 and $60.51, respectively.  At June 30, 2012, the Company had $2.91 billion of capacity remaining under the share repurchase authorization.

Conversion of Preferred Stock to Common Stock.  In May 2011, the Company’s board of directors authorized the redemption of the Company’s preferred stock held by The Travelers 401(k) Savings Plan (the Savings Plan) and gave notice of that redemption to the appropriate fiduciaries of the Savings Plan.  Following a fiduciary review, the Savings Plan exercised its right to convert each preferred share into eight shares of the Company’s common stock.  As a result, all preferred shares outstanding on June 7, 2011 (190,083 shares) were converted into a total of 1.52 million shares of the Company’s common stock.