Study: Insurance Helps Bank Profits

The overall median net income for all 7,563 operating banks and savings banks was $686,000 in 2008.

The median for the 3,338 banks and savings banks with some insurance activity was about $1.2 million.

The income disparity held true for banks in all asset size categories except for the over-$10 billion category, the researchers report.

Median net income was 23% higher for banks with insurance activity that have $1 billion to $10 billion in assets, but, for banks with more than $10 billion in assets, the profitability of banks with insurance activity was about the same as the profitability of all banks in that size range, the researchers write.