Hail and catastrophe loss reserve development hits Allstate in August

U.S. primary insurance carrier Allstate has reported pre-tax catastrophe losses amounting to $186 million for the month of August 2018, with a single hail event contributing roughly $48 million, while negative development on prior month catastrophe researches also added $49 million to the total.

Allstate said that the hail losses were from a single outbreak of severe convective storms in Colorado during the month of August, just the latest major hail loss event this year.

By the middle of August insurance and reinsurance sector losses from severe convective storms in the United States had already passed $11 billion and it is widely expected that hail losses alone will surpass $10 billion again this year.

For major insurers like Allstate the increasing burden of hail and severe weather losses is becoming a key factor in their reinsurance buying decisions, as they look to better protect themselves against these frequency-type catastrophe events.

Of the pre-tax $186 million of August 2018 catastrophe losses ($147 million after-tax), there were 16 events occurring in August at an estimated cost of $137 million before tax, while unfavorable reserve development on prior reported catastrophe losses contributed the rest.

Allstate had previously announced $262 million of estimated pre-tax catastrophe losses for July 2018, bringing this quarters total to $448 million before tax ($354 million after-tax).

Hurricane Florence is not yet factored in, but will be included in the September estimate.

Allstate saw $906 million of estimated catastrophe losses in Q2 of this year and $361 million in Q1 2018.