INSURANCE

Two Insurers Ordered to Stop Writing: Citing shaky finances, Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi ordered Kentucky Central Life Insurance Co. and Consumers United Insurance Co. to stop writing new business in California. Kentucky Central, based in Lexington, Ky., has about 20,000 universal life insurance customers in California. While the company is not insolvent, Garamendi said its surplus is inadequate. Washington, D.C.-based Consumers United, which was placed in rehabilitation by the state of Delaware in 1991, has about 4,000 life and health insurance policyholders in California. Garamendi said its surplus was also too low to safely cover the amount of insurance it was writing.