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Banks aiming to be full-service retail marketers are now concentrating on how insurance and investment products can be introduced and marketed. Setting up an effective sales program begins with the determination of ways to sell these products. Banks have the option to train their licensed employees, set up a subsidiary, or hire a marketing organization to sell annuities to bank customers. banks. The success of any annuity program depends on several factors which include the quality of the bank's financial relationships with its customers, the sales skills of its employees, and the characteristics of the products being sold.

Banks Eye Insurance Products After the events of the past 12 months, there can be little doubt left in anyone's mind that banks are going to be a major distributor [...]

Summit Bancorp's Jack D. Cussen, Commerce Bank's Thomas J. Sukay, Dime Bancorp's J. Daniel Keppel, and Kenneth Kehrer Associates' Kenneth Kehrer answered a variety of questions about bank sales of insurance. Keppel noted that Dime will probably generate over $10 million in premiums from branch-sold life insurance in 1996, compared to just $1.6 million in 1995. He credited support from senior management as the primary reason for that growth., Bank executives generally agree that insurance is the next step in the never- ending quest for fee income. But what types of insurance should banks sell? And to what markets [...]

Banks have sold insurance from small towns for 76 years, but the days of life and property may be over SUPPOSE YOU'RE A U.S. Bancorp customer of long standing. You [...]

Insurance: Sell Solutions, Not Policies As the real estate and commercial lending businesses continue to sour in the first half of 1991, most banks are hungrily eying the business of [...]

The Small Town Exception Can Boost Bank Ins. Sales Few banks realize just how many ways there are for banks to become involved in profitable insurance-related operations. Among the avenues [...]

Banks, Insurers To Form New Alliances Because consumers in this country have for years looked to their financial institution as a financial adviser, it is logical that those institutions should [...]

State Regulators Wary Of Delaware Bank Sales BALTIMORE--State insurance regulators are concerned that new legislation in Delaware allowing state-chartered banks to sell and underwrite insurance nationwide is only one indication [...]

Agents Launch Battle On Delaware Bank Law Only hours after Delaware's governor signed legislation granting banks new insurance powers nationwide, an insurance agent petition prompted the Federal Reserve Board to [...]

Though the bancassurance business model that is common in Europe never caught fire in the United States as analysts had expected in the late 1990s, insurers such as AIG and [...]

Massachusetts banks have prevailed in a federal lawsuit they brought last year challenging restrictions on insurance sales through bank branches. The U.S. District Court in Boston found in favor of [...]

There has been much discussion in the financial press recently about banks selling insurance, or 'bancassurance,' in Europe. The message is that the European model is one we should emulate [...]

Despite bank executives' recent claims that insurance has become a core product, bank insurance sales, or 'bancassurance,' have fallen far short of expectations. Many banks have stumbled badly in the [...]

Trustmark Corp. of Jackson, Miss., is making a big annuity push. Trustmark Bank recently licensed 108 branch employees to sell insurance, and another 53 are to take the exam. The [...]

Banks And Thrifts Continue Expanding Insurance Sales Was the decision by Citizens and Southern Bank of Atlanta to curtail its insurance and annuity operation last summer an aberration or a [...]

Banks play an increasingly important role in the insurance industry. A survey conducted by Vantage Computer Systems, Inc. and the Inter-Financial Association indicates that 75 percent of the respondents plan to participate in the insurance business and 89 percent believe that insurance products can increase profits. It is estimated that banks will distribute 9 percent of life insurance by 1990. The main share of current planning is focused on insurance agency distribution, not on underwriting. The focus of current planning is on the testing of in-branch insurance agencies. The profitability of such agencies depends upon reducing the prospecting costs incurred by independent agents. The agency manager bears most of the risk of agency profitability. The trend in insurance categories is toward tax-sheltered annuities and cash-value life insurance.

Banks are stepping up their interest in offering property and casualty insurance now that the field is no longer barred to them by law. A prominent Western New York insurance [...]

Banks are developing partnerships with insurance firms in order to begin selling insurance products, but bankers must be careful to select a firm they can work with and products which will appeal to their customer base. Distribution systems are also an important consideration, and banks should avoid using insurers whose own agents or affiliated independent agents may target the same customers., As the barriers fall to providing insurance services, banks are beginning to develop insurance programs. Often these are developed through partnerships with insurers. It is hard to overstate the importance [...]

Insurance agent groups have devised a model blueprint for state legislation regulating bank insurance activities which they believe would not infringe on the preemption standard established in the Barnett Bank case. The model law blueprint stipulates that bank insurance sales be conducted only by licensed agents and that bank employees who are not licensed agents not be remunerated for referring customers to bank insurance agents., WASHINGTON--Insurance agent groups have developed a blueprint for a model state law regulating bank insurance activities. The groups believe that these model laws, which focus on consumer protection issues, can [...]

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors reports that 40 states have given state-chartered banks rights to sell insurance, in a rapidly-spreading trend to bring about parity with national banks. Twenty-four states give state banks unlimited authority to market insurance policies. The Supreme Court's Barnett Bank ruling that prohibits states from barring insurance sales in small towns by national banks has reportedly spurred the pace of the laws freeing state-chartered bank powers., More and more states are moving quickly to give state-chartered banks insurance sales parity with national banks in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's Barnett Bank ruling that states [...]

Major banks are moving ahead in their penetration of the insurance market through the marketing of traditional insurance products despite a lack of clear rules concerning the legality of their non-annuity insurance operations. Major banks are beginning to market traditional life insurance policies and high-end health insurance policies supplied by the insurance companies that had been using the banks as marketing channels for annuities. The progress of the banking industry as a whole into traditional insurance is slow since the marketing of traditional products is different than the marketing of annuities and requires an augmented sales force., Even though regulators and the courts are still debating whether banks can sell insurance, banks are going full steam ahead. 'Almost every major bank I talk to is interested in [...]

The Royal Bank of Canada (Toronto, Ontario), the largest bank in Canada, has bucked the trend in the Canadian insurance industry and announced that it will not underwrite insurance products. The bank will market insurance products in conjunction with insurance companies and brokers. Many Canadian banks are planning to market their own insurance products, but The Royal Bank of Canada feels that insurance brokers are best positioned to market insurance products., Canada's largest bank appears to be bucking the banks-in-insurance trend sweeping that country with the announcement that it will not underwrite traditional insurance products. The recent statement by the Toronto-based [...]

Two Senate Banking Committee senior members, Chris Dodd and Jim Sasser, have asked Committee Chmn Donald Riegle Jr to develop a legislative method to offset an appellate court decision that permits banks to sell insurance nationally. Sen Sasser warned that the court's approval of the Comptroller of Currency's interpretation of Section 92 of the National Bank Act would place insurance agents in unfair competition with giant financial institutions. Sen Dodd noted that Congress has often voted to prevent banks from selling insurance nationally but has never passed laws stipulating its policy., WASHINGTON--Two prominent Senate Democrats are leading an effort to overturn an appellate court decision allowing banks to sell insurance nationally from small town offices. Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Jim [...]

Insurance agent professional associations are considering legislative lobbying and a Supreme Court appeal to offset an Appeals Court ruling that allows banks to sell insurance nationally. Many banks plan to open insurance agencies in small towns following the court's upholding a Comptroller of Currency's interpretation of Section 92 of the National Bank Act that removes geographical limits on selling., WASHINGTON--Large numbers of banks will consider entering the insurance agency business now that a U.S. Appeals Court has ruled that there is no geographical limitation to bank sales of insurance [...]

Lawyer John F. Hartigan, a partner in the law firm of Morgan, Lewis and Brockus (Los Angeles, CA), stated that banks entering the insurance industry must adopt a defensive competitive posture emphasizing due diligence and arbitration. Hartigan made his remarks at the Financial Institutions Insurance Association's fall conference. Due diligence is important because of the amount of insolvencies afflicting the insurance industry., NEW ORLEANS--Banks getting into the insurance business must consider carefully the defensive side of their enterprise, particularly arbitration agreements and due diligence, so they are well-positioned if things go awry, [...]

District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky Judge Joseph Hood's ruling that the Kentucky Department of Insurance must issue license applications to national banks to sell insurance in small towns has pleased both bankers and insurers but has not resolved their disagreement. Hood's ruling orders applications to be sent but specifically refuses to state that the Department must issue licenses to banks. The American Bankers Assn had joined three small town Kentucky banks in a suit to allow banking insurance sales., The insurance and the banking industries are both claiming victory after a federal judge in Kentucky ruled the state's insurance department must issue insurance license applications to banks that want [...]

CitiCorp and Chase Manhattan Bank are expected to pursue their efforts to offer insurance now that the U.S. Supreme Court has set aside a challenge from the insurance industry. The Court refused to hear insurance industry complaints against a new Delaware law that allows banks to sell insurance from that state., Citicorp and Chase Manhattan Corp. have cleared the last legal hurdle in their bid to sell insurance nationwide from subsidiaries in Delaware. Attempts to block a controversial 1990 Delaware law [...]

Commercial banks show |exploding' growth as sellers of insurance Savings institutions have long had an advantage over commercial banks in their authority to sell insurance products. But, experts are predicting [...]

Banks Told To Avoid |Myths' Of Ins. Sales BOSTON-- 'When you look at the list of opportunities to market insurance in a financial institution, it's mind boggling,' according to Peter [...]

The Outlook Is Murky For A Bank Powers Bill WASHINGTON--Despite the best efforts of bankers, the insurance industry and the Treasury Department, prospects for a broad banking bill that will [...]

Agents Assess Big California Bank Merger A suit challenging the sale of insurance by California state banks takes on added significance with the acquisition by BankAmerica Corp. of Security Pacific [...]

Dingell Clashes With Gonzalez Over Banking Bill WASHINGTON--Talk on Capitol Hill before the August recess was on the jurisdictional battle over banking reform legislation between two 'larger-than-life' committee chairmen. The [...]

Insurance Officials Praise Senate Bank Reform Proposal WASHINGTON--Insurance groups are praising banking reform legislation drafted by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Donald W. Riegle Jr., D-Mich., that would maintain most restrictions [...]

Va. Law Letting Banks Sell Ins. Goes Into Effect Today While Virginia agents were not able to prevent passage of a law allowing banks and thrifts to sell insurance in [...]

Court Gives Citicorp OK To Sell Insurance In Delaware State-chartered subsidiaries of bank holding companies in Delaware will be able to both sell and underwrite all lines of insurance under [...]

Agents Prod Congress On Bank Issue WASHINGTON--The question of bank insurance powers must be addressed now, according to a representative of a coalition of insurance agent groups. 'Throughout the remainder [...]

Agents Demand New Banking Laws WASHINGTON--The question of bank insurance powers must be addressed now, according to a representative of a coalition of insurance agent groups. 'Throughout the remainder of [...]

Banker Describes Benefits Of |Relationship Marketing' LAQUINTA, CALIF.--Banks entering the insurance arena and traditional insurers alike must begin developing 'relationship marketing' in order to thrive, according to Donald R. Holton, [...]