CAT LOSSES HELP CUT ALLSTATE'S NINE-MONTH INCOME BY 90%

US p/c and life group Allstate saw nine-month income plummet by 90% to $64m from the year-earlier $632m as it booked another $1.08bn in catastrophe losses during Q3, on top of the record $2.34bn in cat losses that it recorded for Q2. Overall, cat losses for the nine months totaled $3.75bn, more than doubling the year-earlier $1.67bn. The Illinois-based based insurer managed to stay in the black for the nine months by posting $3bn in investment income, swinging to $17m in realized gains from year-earlier losses of $943m, and seeing its life assurance division swing to $446m in net income from a loss of $18m. Its core property/liability operation swung to a net loss of $230m from income of $794m as the cat losses helped generate an underwriting loss of $1.49bn against year-earlier income of $544m. Earned premiums edged down 0.9% to $19.34bn, while claims costs rose 13.1% to $15.96bn. The combined ratio for the nine months rose to 107.7% from 97.2%, with cat losses accounting for 19.4 points against 8.6 points last year. The bulk of the cat losses were absorbed by the group's home insurance operation, where the combined ratio rose to 139% from 106.8%.