Financial Winners and Losers: Hartford

Updated from 3:12 p.m. EDT

Financial stocks finished lower Friday after several insurers were granted access to funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program and Fitch Ratings warned of downgrades for nine U.S. banks.

Hartford Financial (HIG), Lincoln National (LNC), Allstate (ALL), Prudential Financial (PRU), Principal Financial (PFG) and Ameriprise Financial (AMP) have been granted access to $22 billion from the TARP as the government hopes to prevent the industry from stumbling further.

Hartford said late Thursday that it has preliminary approval to receive $3.4 billion, and Lincoln said it has been granted approval for $2.5 billion. Ameriprise said Friday that it will not accept government aid, while Allstate said it would review the government's proposal.

Keefe Bruyette & Woods' analysts argued in a research note Friday that Prudential and Principal were unlikely to take TARP money because of their solid capital position.

After starting the day in positive territory, Hartford finished down 1% and Lincoln was lower by 0.7%. Prudential slipped 4.1%, Allstate shed 3.8% and Principal gave back 1.5%. Not every insurer traded down, though, as Ameriprise tacked on 1.4%.

Among other insurers, American International Group (AIG) slid 6.5%, Conseco (CNO) was off 4.9%, and MetLife (MET) sank 3.6%.

Several bank stocks were lower on comments from Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair, who indicated that management teams at several financial institutions could be replaced in the wake of the government's stress tests.

"Management needs to be evaluated," Bair told Bloomberg Television in an interview to be aired this weekend. "Have they been doing a good job? Are there people who can do a better job?"