INSURANCE

Mutual Benefit Was Victim of Panic: Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Co., the largest insurer ever seized by regulators, was the victim of a panic by big pension funds that pulled their money out of the firm in a matter of weeks, according to regulatory documents. The pension funds started cashing in their Mutual Benefit policies and annuities in mid-May and could have led to the collapse of the Newark, N. J., firm had regulators not stepped in and seized it. They withdrew $400 million, or about 94% of the total pulled out of the firm from January to June, the documents from the New Jersey Insurance Department show.