Banks in Insurance Advance Despite Soft Market, Study Reports

December 4, 2007

  • December 4, 2007 at 7:48 am
    Brian says:
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    I work for a bank owned agency and it has it’s plusses and minuses. The bank dosen’t understand our business, HR and legal hinder any creativity.

    I believe most banks will be sellers as they realize they can’t get the returns they can get in other areas. Why would B of A sell?

    BNC sold their operation. Most of my fellow agents would like to be out from under the banks ownership. The only people who benefited from bank ownerships were the principals who got an inflated price the last few years.

    Also, the cross reference sell is ridiculous, in our agency we give the bank credit for a third or fourth degree of seperation relationship. My shop does north of $10,000,000 in revenue and we have generated in five years about $30,000 of legitimate bank referal revenue. The boys and girls in the ivory tower are being told otherwise.

  • December 4, 2007 at 7:51 am
    Jim says:
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    ANyone else think that this study was self serving? It is conducted by an organization whose life blood is tied to there being bank owned insurance agencies. The first bank that they refered to BNC sold their insurance operations this year to concentrate on their core business.

  • December 4, 2007 at 8:32 am
    Stat Guy says:
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    Banks in the insurance business is a novelty at best for all the well known reasons and especially those specific ones pointed out by Brian; and I think he probably made the most honest assessment I have heard yet. But we’ll keep hearing these rosy projections, in spite of the downside, until those still vested can get out without a lot of egg on their faces. The telling words are: “….to concentrate on their core business…” Banking folks always trot out the old cross-selling numbers to buttress their position but if they had to rely on that to generate sales instead of the already established relationships, they would have gone bust a long time ago…..Banks just don’t understand marketing insurance as well as they understand marketing banking services.

  • December 4, 2007 at 1:43 am
    Sean says:
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    SO…Nobodys going to “Ante Up” for Georgie Porgie Puddin’ Pie Norcross at Commerce ?

  • December 4, 2007 at 2:45 am
    Lee says:
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    I’ve worked for 4 bank owned multi-state agencies. Usually the banks do a good job selling annuities and/or life insurance on their platform but do a lousy job with P&C referrals, both personal and commercial. Wells, for instance, does a good job because of Acordia and the relationships their agents have with clients – not because of referrals coming from the bank.

  • December 4, 2007 at 3:34 am
    Nan says:
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    Some banks sell insurance as poorly as they qualified home buyers now in forclosure. We issued a binder for a client to refinance and the next thing we knew we received a request to cancel stating that Eastern Bank had insured the home. Two years later he came back for a comparison and we found that the bank had issued a DP3 policy (no liability) to replace the HO3 policy he had with us. There was no coverage for contents, loss of use nor any liability…. so much for responsible banking! We did end up issuing another HO3 and notified the bank to cancel… who is looking out for the client???



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