Banks' Insurance Income Flat In '07

In 2007, 637 bank holding companies, about 68% of all top BHCs reporting, earned some insurance-related revenue, down from 642 in 2006. Of these, 632 banks had insurance brokerage operations.

Insurance brokerage fee income had been rising at a compound annual growth rate of 19.5% from 2001 through 2006, says Valerie Barton, executive director of ABIA, Washington. Much of the flattening in 2007 was due to softer property-casualty insurance sales, she reports.

New entrants to the top 50 for total insurance revenue in 2007 were Barclays Group U.S. Inc., a unit of Barclays Bank P.L.C., London; Central Community Corp., Temple, Texas; Utrecht-America Holdings Inc., New York, part of Rabobank International Holding B.V., Utrecht, Netherlands; Stifel Financial Corp., St. Louis; Santander Bancorp, San Juan, P.R., a subsidiary of Banco Santander, Madrid; Leesport Financial Corp., Reading, Pa.; Tompkins Financial Corp., Ithaca, N.Y.; First Bancorp, San Juan; and Valley National Bancorp, Wayne, N.J.

Of all banks, Utrecht-America increased its rank in total insurance income the most, leaping from 609th place at the end of 2006 to 33rd by year-end 2007, MWA reports. (At press time, the bank had not returned calls seeking more information.)

Total insurance revenue reported for the banks includes earnings from both sales and underwriting.