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January 15, 2004 at 07:00 PM
NU Online News Service, Jan. 15, 2004, 6:02 p.m. EST — If J.P. Morgan Chase & Company, New York, and Bank One Corp., Chicago, succeed with their merger plans, the deal will create a formidable presence not only in the banking industry but also in the life insurance and annuity businesses, analysts say.[@@]
Together, the banks would have $1.1 trillion in assets and 2,300 branches in 17 states, according to the merger announcement.
Chase and Morgan are “2 of 12 banks that sell over $1 billion a year in annuities,” says Kenneth Kehrer, a Princeton, N.J., bank insurance consultant. “Chase is already a major player in annuities and even underwrites them, but Bank One is much bigger [than Chase] in annuities, because it’s a much larger retail bank.”
Bank One has been the third largest bank seller of annuities and Chase is sixth, according to Kehrer figures.
Kehrer’s figures for Bank One do not include sales by the U.S. operations of Zurich Financial Services Group, Zurich, which the bank bought for $500 million in May 2003.
Chase has developed its own insurance company. The insurance subsidiary is engaged primarily in sales of annuities.
