US primary insurer Allstate has pre-announced fourth-quarter 2021 catastrophe losses of $528 million, pre-tax, the majority of which came in December following the impacts of the Marshall Fire in Colorado and a series of tornadoes.
In December, Allstate’s catastrophe losses hit a total of $411 million, pre-tax ($325m after-tax), of which events accounted for $381 million, pre-tax, plus unfavourable reserve reestimates of around $30 million.
According to Allstate, Colorado’s Marshall Fire, which destroyed more than a thousand structures and resulted in an estimated insurance industry loss of $1 billion, and the December tornadoes – another multi-billion dollar event – accounted for 78% of the December cat loss total.
Of this, the large majority, or $218 million of the overall loss is attributable to the Marshall Fire.
So, were it not for the unusual events that occurred in December, Allstate’s fourth-quarter catastrophe losses would have been minimal.
After reporting third-quarter 2021 catastrophe losses of $1.3 billion, Allstate reported a Q3 underwriting loss of $534 million.
The third-quarter included around $631 million of losses from Hurricane Ida after factoring in more than $750 million of reinsurance recoveries.
