INSURANCE

Safeco Withdraws From Homeowners Market: Following the lead of three other major insurers worried about earthquake risk, Safeco Corp. said its insurance subsidiaries would immediately stop writing new homeowners, dwelling fire and condominium policies in California. Safeco, with 259,000 such policies in force in California, is one of the state’s 10 largest carriers. William E. Thomas, a Safeco senior vice president, noted in a statement that the company suffered an estimated $175 million in losses from the Northridge earthquake. In order to limit its exposure to such losses, Safeco must curtail its writings of homeowners coverage, because California law requires homeowners insurers to also offer earthquake coverage, Thomas said.