CALIFORNIA : SOUTHLAND FOCUS : Golden State Mutual Proposes Change

A landmark black-owned insurer has announced plans to demutualize and merge with an Alabama insurance company. Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co. of Los Angeles said it will ask policyholders for permission to end its mutually owned status and combine with employee-owned Booker T. Washington Insurance Co. of Birmingham. A mutual insurance company is owned by its policyholders. Golden State would continue operations as a separate entity under a parent corporation to be called A.G. Gaston/Golden State Corp., said Golden State President and CEO Larkin Teasley, who will serve as president of the parent company. Golden State, which has written insurance in six states, was founded in 1925 to serve African Americans who were turned down or forced to pay high rates by white-owned insurers of the time. It has $103 million in assets.