INSURER EXITS CALIF. HOMEOWNERS

According to the Los Angeles Times, after a threeyear experiment, California-based 21st Century Insurance has decided to stop selling homeowners insurance in the state. Instead, 21st Century will refer customers to DirectNet Insurance Agency Inc., a provider of homeowner, rental and condo coverage (and a subsidiary of Calabasas-based Countrywide Credit Industries Inc.) for coverage. 21st Century, which will cease renewing policies starting Feb. 21, returned to the homeowners market in 1999 after being nearly bankrupted by the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Providing auto insurance to 6 percent of California drivers and drivers in other Western states, 21st Century had trouble building much of a market share in California, the only state where it made homeowners insurance available. Last year, the company had direct earned premiums of $30 million, which accounts for 3 percent of the company’s total insurance premiums.