Allstate Bank is rolling out checking accounts and certificates of deposit (CDs) in Allstate agencies in an additional 26 states and Washington, D.C.

"Allstate Bank wants to help customers save for a secure retirement."

Allstate Bank — started as a way for Allstate Insurance Co. customers to make premium payments directly from their checking accounts — now offers Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-insured CDs, insured money market and savings accounts, and checking accounts to supplement the annuities and mutual funds already offered by Allstate Financial.

"Allstate Bank wants to help customers save for a secure retirement," says Kevin Slawin, chief executive officer of Allstate Bank. "The banking products and services we are introducing expand Allstate Financial's portfolio of retirement investment products."

Consumers can access their Allstate Bank accounts through Allstate agencies, on the Internet, by phone, or through automatic teller machines.

The expansion brings Allstate Bank to Arkansas, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The bank was already available in Alabama, California, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Allstate Bank was originally chartered in 1998 as an online bank. In 2001, the Office of Thrift Supervision granted it permission to expand out of cyberspace. Allstate Bank plans to be available in Allstate agencies in all 50 states by the end of 2002.

Other insurers, including Aetna, American International Group, The Hartford, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., are also taking advantage of the 1999 federal reform of financial service regulations by offering consumer-banking services.