Durham company banned in Ohio

DURHAM (WTVD) -- Durham based N.C. Mutual Life Insurance has been blocked from selling new policies in Ohio.

State regulators and the insurance company agreed to the consent order after Mutual posted a net operating loss of $5.4 million for the 12-month period ending in June 2008.

Ohio state regulations require that losses don't exceed 50 percent of the required capital and surplus, and that automatically triggered a ban on writing new policies. Existing policies in that state will continue to be honored and serviced.

North Carolina's rules are different, and state regulators here have not moved to limit N.C. Mutual Life from doing business. The company serves customers in 24 states.

Mutual's CEO says the situation in Ohio will not affect those customers.

"We don't issue a lot of business in Ohio, but that was again, a short term decision we had to make that will benefit us going forward long term," said James Speed.

Mutual says it's weathering the current financial storm and the more than 100-year-old company looks forward to surviving another 100 years.

"We're challenged, but we are proactively managing the business to make sure we're doing things as efficiently as possible, that our organization stays within its budgeted expenses," Speed offered.

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