INSURANCE

Hopes for Mutual Benefit Life Bailout Fade: Hopes are fading that the policyholders of Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Co. in Newark, N.J., will be bailed out by two competitors. Prudential Life Insurance Co. of America and Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. had both taken steps recently, in concert with insurance regulators, to help ailing Mutual Life. But an executive at Metropolitan Life was quoted as saying the chances were “slight” that his firm would be involved in a rescue. A Prudential official said his firm is unwilling to buy any of Mutual’s businesses, especially if it means “transferring large losses.” Mutual Benefit has been in turmoil since its assets were seized by insurance regulators last month.