Allstate to repurchase $1 billion in shares

Allstate Corp., the largest publicly traded U.S. home and auto insurer, approved a $1 billion share buyback program.

“We can resume providing additional cash returns to shareholders,” Chief Executive Officer Thomas Wilson said today in a statement distributed by PR Newswire.

The $1 billion program will be completed by the end of March 2012, the Northbrook-based insurer said.