Allstate Sells Bank as Fed Says, ‘Why Don’t We Talk?’

Allstate Corp. Chief Executive Officer Thomas Wilson, who agreed to sell the insurer’s banking unit four months after meeting with the Federal Reserve, said he expects to sidestep tighter regulation by exiting the business.

“Our meeting at the Fed in October was a ‘Hi, we’re about to become your holding company regulator, why don’t we talk and see what’s on your mind?’” Wilson said in an interview yesterday. Northbrook, Illinois-based Allstate, regulated by state insurance commissioners and the Office of Thrift Supervision, was facing additional Fed requirements on debt-to-equity levels and overall risk management that would create “potential conflict” with existing oversight, Wilson said.