Banks increased their insurance brokerage fee revenues by 4percent last year, with Citibank leading the pack with $973 millionin brokerage fee income, according to a study.

The report, released by Michael White Associates, LLC, andsponsored by Symetra Financial, is based on data released by all7,837 commercial and FDIC regulated savings banks.

The data shows that 47 percent of banks in the United Statesengaged in activities that produced insurance brokeragerevenue.

The products include insurance sales and referrals of credit,life, health, property, casualty, title insurance and annuities notsold by securities brokerage firms.

Banks recorded $4.08 billion in 2006, up from $3.93 billion in2005.

Behind Citibank on the list was BB&T (Branch Banking andTrust Company) with $799.4 million in insurance revenue. FIA CardServices was third, but saw its revenues drop 26 percent, or $66million, to $190 million.

The report found that banks with over $10 billion in assetscontinued to have the highest participation in insurance brokeractivities (71 percent), producing $3.2 billion in insurance feeincome.

"The industry's growth rate of 4 percent last year in insurancebrokerage fee income was a decline from the compound annual growthrate of 6.5 percent since 2001," said Rod Halvorson, senior vicepresident of financial distribution for Symetra Financial.

The decrease, he said, "reflects, in part, a tendency to locateinsurance operations within bank holding company subsidiariesrather than bank subsidiaries. And, it reflects a slowdown in bankplatform sales programs that strictly sell fixed annuityproducts."