Travelers 2008 Annual Report Download - page 284

Exhibit 31.1
CERTIFICATION
I, Jay S. Fishman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, certify that:
1. I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 of
The Travelers Companies, Inc. (the Company);
2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact
or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the
circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the
period covered by this report;
3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in
this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations
and cash flows of the Company as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
4. The Company’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining
disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and
15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act
Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the Company and have:
a) designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and
procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information
relating to the Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by
others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being
prepared;
b) designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control
over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable
assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial
statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting
principles;
c) evaluated the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures and
presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such
evaluation; and
d) disclosed in this report any change in the Company’s internal control over financial
reporting that occurred during the Company’s most recent fiscal quarter (the Company’s
fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is
reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial
reporting; and
5. The Company’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent
evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the Company’s auditors and the
audit committee of the Company’s board of directors:
a) all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal
control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
Company’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who
have a significant role in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.
Date: February 19, 2009 By: /s/ JAY S. FISHMAN
Jay S. Fishman
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
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