NORTHBROOK, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Allstate announced today that it publicly released approximately 150,000 pages of documents pertaining to a review of its claim practices conducted in the 1990s. Allstate was assisted in the review by business consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

The documents relate to a complex body of work that as a whole demonstrates a careful, fact-based analysis to better enable the company to more promptly investigate and more consistently and effectively evaluate claims based upon their own merits.

Allstate believes public criticisms by people with a vested interest in creating an inaccurate picture of the company’s claim practices have been based unfairly on only snippets from the documents taken out of context.

We continue to believe that the documents deserve protection as containing trade secret and confidential proprietary information and that our actions to protect them from general disclosure have been appropriate. However, because of the need to address misunderstandings resulting from the growing misplaced focus by our critics on very small pieces of the whole, we have decided to make the documents public.

Some of the facts about Allstate’s claims practices that have been overlooked in the debate over these documents include:

As a regulated company, Allstate’s claims practices are available to and regularly reviewed by state departments of insurance.

Allstate resolved millions of homeowners and auto claims last year and continued to earn very high rates of policy renewal.

The company regularly communicates with our customers and claimants about their claim and what they can expect from the process.

Allstate is aggressive in fighting fraud to protect our customers and reduce the cost of insurance. The company employs a special investigative unit (SIU) that is specifically charged with identifying and combating fraud.

“We became the largest publicly held personal lines insurance company in the United States in no small part because we built a reputation of being there for our customers in their time of need by resolving claims fairly, accurately and in a timely manner,” said Allstate spokesperson Rich Halberg. “The fact that we have added millions of new customers over the past 15 years speaks to the outstanding claim service we provide.”

When aired in the unbiased setting of a court of law, allegations about the documents have been shown to be without merit. Most recently, some of the documents were seen and explained in context to a jury during a two-week trial in Kentucky (Hager v. Allstate). The jury unanimously ruled in Allstate’s favor in deliberations that lasted less than two hours.

To view the documents, visit http://media.allstate.com/.  

 By Michael Peltier

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Reuters) - A Florida appeals court on Friday upheld a state regulator's order suspending Allstate Corp (ALL.N: ) from writing new insurance policies in Florida.

The state's Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) suspended Allstate in January, saying it had not fully complied with a subpoena to testify about its property insurance business. Allstate immediately appealed and won a stay allowing it to continue writing policies.

Florida investigators were trying to determine if Allstate and other companies colluded to prevent property insurance rates from dropping despite legislative action last year to reduce premiums.

In a statement issued immediately after the ruling by the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee on Friday, Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said the suspension would be enforced immediately.

But at an afternoon news conference he pulled back, saying Allstate had 15 days to appeal and he was not sure when the suspension would take effect.

Allstate said it was reviewing the ruling but believed it was not yet final and would continue to write new business.

Nonetheless, McCarty said: "This is good news for the people of Florida. This is good news for all those law-abiding companies doing business in our state."

The suspension would mainly affect new auto policies, since Allstate had previously said it planned to reduce its homeowner policy exposure in Florida.

"We are very disappointed in today's ruling and disagree with the court's opinion," Allstate said in a statement.

Florida has been reeling from a deteriorating real estate market and huge insurance premium increases after eight hurricanes in 2004 and 2005, when insurers paid out about $35 billion in claims.

State regulators asked Allstate officials in January to testify at a hearing on a 41 percent rate increase that Allstate wanted to impose on its property insurance business.

But state officials called off the hearing when Allstate refused to answer questions and provide certain documents.

The appeals court said in its ruling: "The question we must answer is whether OIR can take this action in an effort to enforce its subpoenas. They can."

"OIR was not required to pursue enforcement of its subpoenas in circuit court. Suspension of Allstate's Certificate of Authority is one of OIR's available enforcement options."

McCarty said the company continues to thumb its nose at the state's request for information and recently sent a 196-page list of documents it would not release.

"The company's actions have been contrary to the best interests of the consumer and they have acted in a way that jeopardizes the health and welfare of the people of Florida," he said.

Late Friday, Allstate announced the public release on its Web site of about 150,000 pages of documents relating to a review of its claim practices in the 1990s.

The review was assisted by the management consultant McKinsey & Co and the paperwork has long been thought to advocate a tough approach to handling customer claims.

Allstate said it believed the documents should be kept confidential, but it was releasing them to "address misunderstandings" about how it handles claims.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Lilla Zuill in New York, writing by Jim Loney in Miami; Editing by Braden Reddall/Andre Grenon)

© Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

By Jim Loney

MIAMI (Reuters) - The damage caused to U.S. coastal cities by hurricanes promises to rise into the stratosphere, raising concerns about a possible $500 billion storm and prompting calls for tougher building codes.

Devastating hurricanes like 1992's Andrew and Katrina of 2005 have failed to put a dent in massive construction along the hurricane-vulnerable Atlantic and Gulf coasts, where millions of people face evacuation when a storm threatens.

Katrina, which swamped New Orleans, was the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, with damages of $80 billion.

But a study published earlier this year found that a 1926 hurricane that struck Miami would have caused $157 billion in damage, adjusting for inflation and current building.

The study suggested there could be a $500 billion hurricane by the 2020s.

"It's not that far fetched. The damages seem to be doubling every 10 years," said Max Mayfield, former director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center. "As we continue to build at the coastline, the damage is going to continue to go up. There's no way around that."

The higher prices tags are the inevitable result of U.S. migration to the coast, as well as rising real estate values, experts said at the U.S. National Hurricane Conference held this month in Orlando.

The population of coastal counties on the Atlantic and Gulf increased from 66.8 million in 1980 to 88.3 million in 2006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Miami Beach, with its miles of expensive oceanfront hotels and condos, is considered a prime target for a future costly mega-storm. The Galveston-Houston area of Texas, New Orleans and Washington, D.C., are all vulnerable.

But New York City, with its billions of dollars in real estate, could be the site of the eventual $500 billion storm.

The Long Island-New Jersey area could see a 30-foot storm surge in a big hurricane, representing one of the most alarming danger zones in the country.

(Editing by Michael Christie and Todd Eastham)

© Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

NEW YORK, April 7 (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors are putting pressure on Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N: ) (BRKb.N: ) to replace the chief executive of its reinsurance subsidiary, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site, citing people familiar with the situation.

The pressure to remove Joseph Brandon, CEO of General Re, comes after four of its former executives were convicted of fraud earlier this year, the report said, citing those sources.

The conviction in February was tied to a reinsurance deal, which prosecutors said misled investors of American International Group Inc (AIG.N: ), as it enabled the company to improperly inflate its loss reserves, making its financial results seem artificially bright.

Brandon's position at General Re has been uncertain since 2005 when he got a formal notice from federal securities officials that they were examining if he violated securities laws, though he has not been charged with any wrongdoing, the Journal said.

A decision to remove Brandon lies with Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire, the report said, quoting a source familiar with the situation.

Representatives for Berkshire and the U.S. Department of Justice were not immediately available for comment. General Re could not be reached for comment. (Reporting by Aarthi Sivaraman; editing by Sue Thomas)

“This increased employee appetite for advice at the workplace is a significant development. It presents a tremendous opportunity for U.S. employers to optimize the real and perceived value of their benefit plans. Having a benefit program that meets the diverse needs of their employees – and communicating more frequently about benefit offerings – can result in improved employee retention, which continues to dominate employers' minds as their top benefits objective,” said Bill Mullaney, President, MetLife Institutional Business. For the second consecutive year, retention was rated by employers as their number one benefits objective.

Also among the study’s key findings:

Benefits, Loyalty, & Retention – Employers underestimate how important benefits are to employee loyalty; benefits are increasingly important factors in employees’ decisions to remain with their employer.

Growing Focus on Retirement and Aging Workforce issues – Employer focus and spending on retiree benefits is expected to increase; employees have strong interest in retirement benefits. 

The 6th annual MetLife Study of Employee Benefits Trends is available at www.whymetlife.com/trendspr along with a wealth of other related resources, including interactive polls on the latest benefits issues and access to other MetLife research.

NEW YORK, N.Y., April 4, 2008—Commercial lines insurance premiums experienced the largest quarterly drop since 2005 during the first quarter of 2008, according to the RIMS Benchmark Survey™, the industry’s leading survey of policy renewal prices as reported by corporate risk managers.

Undeterred by mounting claims from the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market, the average directors and officers liability (D&O) premium fell 19 percent in the first quarter, the largest decrease of all the lines of business tracked by Advisen for the RIMS Benchmark Survey™. Continuing the trend of steady, moderate decreases exhibited over the past two years, general liability premiums fell another 2 percent. After demonstrating a moderating trend over the course of 2007, workers compensation price decreases surged during the first quarter, falling 11 percent. In a clear indication that competition is returning to catastrophe-exposed regions, property premiums fell 6 percent—the largest quarterly decrease since Hurricane Katrina. 

The results of the RIMS Benchmark Survey™ are available online or in an annually-published book. Visit www.RIMS.org/benchmark for details.

Also, in BestWeek Europe:

The European Commission’s Solvency II Directive is expected to substantially increase regulatory capital requirements for most European insurers, although no extra capital is likely to be required for the market as a whole, according to a new A.M. Best special report.

Also, in BestWeek U.S./Canada:

Low interest rates, an apparent recession and persistent competition are placing increased pressure on group disability income insurers, according to a new A.M. Best special report.

© Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

BOSTON (Reuters) - Millions of Americans may be facing the prospect of losing their homes, but a handful of fund managers have become the best paid in their industry -- taking home 10-figure paychecks last year -- by betting against mortgages.

John Paulson, who ran a medium-sized fund until last year, zoomed to the top of the industry's earnings table when he took home an estimated $3 billion in 2007, double what the top earner made in 2006, according to data released by magazine Trader Monthly on Monday.

By standing conventional wisdom on its head and deciding that housing prices could decline on a national level, and that investment-grade mortgage bonds would be subject to default in record numbers, Paulson, 52, set a new record for payouts on Wall Street, industry analysts said.

Paulson's $3 billion payout is equivalent to $26 for every U.S. household (114.4 million in 2006).

(Additional reporting by Jon Stempel in New York; Editing by Andre Grenon)

© Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

MADRID (Reuters) - There is more than a 50 percent chance the United States could go into recession, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan told El Pais newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

However, the U.S. has not yet entered recessionary state marked by sharp falls in orders, strong rises in unemployment and intensive weakening of the economy, he said.

"We would have to see signs of this intensification: there are some, but not many yet," he said. "Therefore ... I would not describe the situation we are in as a recession, although the chances that we'll have one are more than 50 percent."

(Reporting by Sonya Dowsett; Editing by Paul Bolding)

© Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

THE TIME EFFECTIVE WAY TO STAY AHEAD  

• Towergate sells £100m of preference shares to beat CGT deadline
• JC Flowers given Friends Provident deadline
• CCV acquires in Bristol
• Cobra acquires more brokers
• Groupama Healthcare pushes for claims sharing in the UK
• Foreign insurer investment percentage in Indian insurers likely to rise
• Private general insurers growing quicker in India
• CIRC looking to restrict foreign ownership of domestic Chinese insurers
• Lloyd's announce £3.8bn profit for 2007
• Argo moves for Heritage
• AEGON looking east in Europe
• Hyperion partners with 3i
• Gallagher acquires in Florida
• Innovation Group signs deal in Utah
• Insurity enhances business intelligence solution
• Four more Snapshots reports from Research and Markets
• Swiss Re gets the nod for new Chinese unit
• Miller gets approval to operate in Singapore
• Allianz to increase agency force in Taiwan
• Deloitte warns UK insurers against complacency on Solvency II
• NAIC reply on Federal option plan
• Groupama UK acquires ChoiceQuote
• Legal & General set up jv in Bahrain
• Groupama to acquire again in Romania
• Co-op improves general insurance profit
• Jelf swoops for two brokers
• Mapfre Re to enter Brazilian market
• Ferguson to head TIAA-CREF
• UK insurers need more assistance from Banks in combating payment fraud says survey

MUTUAL FUNDS AND ANNUITIES YIELD RECORD GAINS AT BANK HOLDING COMPANIES

PNC FINANCIAL COMPLETES SALE OF J.J.B. HILLIARD, W.L. LYONS

JOHN HANCOCK LIFE SOLD MOST LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE IN 2007

NEW WEBSITE TOUTS BENEFITS OF OPTIONAL FEDERAL INSURANCE CHARTER

TREASURY DEPT’S ‘BLUEPRINT’ PONDERS HOW TO PROTECT INVESTORS

AEGON BETS ON 15% ANNUAL GROWTH TAIWAN’S IN PENSION MARKET

STEVENS POINT, Wis., April 4, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- On the heels of AIG Travel Guard coming to the aid of travelers impacted by the shutdown of Aloha Airlines earlier this week, the company announced that it will also provide free emergency travel assistance services to all passengers of ATA Airlines*. ATA Airlines announced on April 3 that they will also be ceasing operations. AIG Travel Guard is offering to help travelers rebook flights on other air carriers, arrange for extended hotel accommodations for those currently stranded at their destinations, and help with other emergency travel needs. Travel Guard's assistance team has already seen a 10 percent increase in call volume due to the recent bankruptcies and expects more throughout the weekend as passengers seek assistance with salvaging their vacation plans. Travelers wishing to take advantage of these complimentary emergency travel assistance services can call AIG Travel Guard's 24-hour emergency hotline at 1-888-637-1739*. http://www.travelguard.com  

COLUMBUS, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Nationwide announced the launch of a new, bilingual insurance and financial planning guide “Let’s Talk About What’s Important.” The free, 25-page guide offers information on how to protect what’s important: your family, home, car, business and financial future. “Let’s Talk About What’s Important” will be distributed at local community events in select markets and through local agent offices. People can also access a printable, electronic version at www.nationwide.com. 

SIMSBURY, Conn., April 7, 2008 – As people around the globe live longer, extended families with grandparents and even great grandparents are becoming more common.  These older adults are often cared for by their adult children, many of whom are Baby Boomers and are being squeezed financially by simultaneously caring for their parents and their children, according to research from The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: HIG).  www.thehartford.com

WAYNE, Pa. — April 4, 2008 — “I’ve seen long-term care insurance improve my parents’ lives,” says Warren Hunter, Chairman and CEO of DMW Worldwide LLC.  “The reality is that very few people understand long-term care insurance, and they usually don’t have someone like you or me in their family to ask about it.  That’s where we can work together to make a difference — to educate today’s consumers and take hold of the opportunity in long-term care.”

Grasping the opportunity is DMW’s overall message as portrayed in its recently published book titled “Opportunity Knocking — Why 2008 is ‘The Year for Long-Term Care’ and How to Get Your Share.”  This publication was created for health care marketers ready to capitalize on the important opportunity that long-term care presents.  The book was unveiled at the American Association of Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI) Seventh LTCi National Producers Summit held in Atlanta, Ga. 

To request a copy of “Opportunity Knocking,” please call Kathie Reed at 484-383-0899, or e-mail her at kreed@dmwdirect.com.     www.dmwdirect.com

Blake, Director of The Communication Workshop, a firm specializing in on-site writing seminars for claims professionals, says, "Even though the sentence is a statute and was not written by a house attorney, it can spell trouble if an opposing attorney were to start reading it aloud in front of a judge, playing it for laughs. This sentence may be the champion long sentence of the whole insurance industry. It's the longest sentence I've come across in 30 years of teaching writing."

For your FREE copy of "the sentence of mass destruction," e-mail: garyblake@aol.com or call (516) 767-9590.