STATE FARM WITHDRAWS FROM LA.

State Farm has decided to take a hike from the Louisiana homeowners market and Acting Insurance Commissioner Robert Wooley acknowledged the pullout comes as no surprise. In a statement, Wooley noted that the company cited inadequate pricing for its homeowners offerings in Louisiana as the primary reason for the withdrawal. The company sought an average 15 percent rate hike in homeowners insurance policies, and wanted to convert existing policies from the current HO-3 and HO-5 policy forms to the new HO-W form. A 12 percent rate hike would have been approved by the Louisiana Insurance Rating Commission, but without the HO-W conversion. That offer was declined by State Farm. Wooley was not willing to impose that conversion on State Farm’s 290,000 customers in the state. He wrote that he would prefer State Farm to keep writing policies in Louisiana, but noted that recently other carriers have begun writing more coverage in southern Louisiana. Allstate intends to take on 10,000 new homeowners policies, while Farmers and ENCOMPASS subsidiary Kansas City Fire have also agreed to write new homeowners business in the region.