NEW YORK–Allstate's incoming chief executive told an insurance conference here yesterday that industry competitors should forge a joint approach for natural catastrophes that inflict major losses on carriers.

Thomas Wilson, president and chief operating officer of Northbrook, Ill.-based Allstate, said his company is solving the problems it has had insuring the hurricane peril, but insurers need to unite to solve the bigger issue of catastrophes impacting the entire U.S. economy.

Mr. Wilson's comments to other insurance executives came at the 18th Annual Executive Conference for the Property-Casualty Industry. “We need to come out of our corners” to unite on a common solution to handle natural catastrophe risk, he said.

Everybody is in their own corners with different positions–the free market advocates, those that say government should solve the problem, and those who simply advocating fixing building codes, said Mr. Wilson.

“All sides are right, but people refuse to acknowledge that others are right,” he said. There is a need, said Mr. Wilson, to “align the factions within the industry for a workable solution that involves elements of all these ideas.”

“We have to give up the purity” of entrenched positions, and instead “engage in the art of reality,” he said, noting that consumers and legislators are confused by internal industry battles.

“They need a solution to a system that does not work, [and] we need to give it to them,” Mr. Wilson asserted.

Allstate is supporting ProtectingAmerica.org, a bi-partisan, broad-based coalition supporting a system that would layer state and federal backstops on top of private insurance.

Mr. Wilson's comments came during a panel discussion on catastrophe management, which followed a keynote address by Liberty Mutual CEO Ted Kelly, who said he adamantly opposed federal government involvement in insuring natural catastrophes.

How can you hope to unite opponents to forge a solution the industry can live with? asked Sam Friedman, editor-in-chief of National Underwriter, suggesting that Ernst Csiszar, former leader of the Property Casualty Insurers of America, lost his job over the debate.

“This is not an insurance industry problem. This is everybody's problem,” Mr. Wilson responded, noting that realtors and firefighters are members of ProtectingAmerica.org.

“I don't think anybody lost their job over this,” he added, noting that PCI and ProtectingAmerica.org both agree there should be a federal solution above state funds.

“There is no difference between the PCI's position and ProtectingAmerica.org other than a technicality,” he said, going on to note that ProtectingAmerica.org advocates a pool funded by some of the premiums of insurers that take on cat risk.

If the pool runs out of money, the federal government loans the money until the pool can pay, he said.

Seeming to take more direct aim at Mr. Kelly's position to support federal involvement in terror insurance but not natural disasters, Mr. Wilson said: “Some people think TRIA is the most important problem. We don't think that's the case.”

He noted that the Department of Homeland Security ranks terrorism risk not much higher than hurricanes.

Bottom line, said Mr. Wilson, Allstate is not saying the issue is critical because it is important to the company. “We're going to fix our problem,” he said, noting that Allstate is reducing its hurricane exposure throughout the nation.

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Allstate Exec Calls For United Front On Cat Risk

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