U.S. bank holding companies increased their total insurancerevenue 9.5 percent to $23.7 billion in the first half of 2008 from$21.7 billion during the same period in 2007, a new reportsays.

However, the number of bank holding companies reportinginsurance income decreased slightly, according to findings byMichael White Associates bank insurance consulting firm in Radnor,Pa., and the American Bankers Insurance Association inWashington.

Total insurance income for the top three in the first half was:CitiGroup, $1.69 billion; Wells Fargo & Company, $1.05 billionand BB&T Corp., $448 million.

Other banks in the top-10 were: Bank of America Corp., $324million; HSBC North America Holdings Inc. $275 million; JPMorganChase & Co., $203 million; Wachovia Corp. $168 million;National City Corp., $66 million; Regions Financial Corp, $59million and Bancorp South Inc., $46 million.

The findings are based on data reported to the Federal ReserveBoard by 946 top-tier large bank holding companies. The analysismeasures the growth of the bank insurance business and providessome benchmarks that gauge bank insurance performance.

Valerie Barton, executive director of ABIA said in a statementthat, "The top 50 bank holding companies in insurance revenueattained a mean ratio of insurance to noninterest income of 14.3percent."

That level of insurance concentration, she added, demonstratesconsiderable contribution to bank holding companies' noninterestincome.

"Insurance consistently proves it is a valuablerevenue-generating activity during good times and bad times. Thoseinstitutions that engage in it are glad to have the additionalincome for diversification of their revenue sources and for theirbottom lines," said Ms. Barton.

During the first six months of 2008, 607 bank holding companies(64.2 percent of all top-level large BHCs reporting) earned sometype of insurance-related revenue, compared to 627 in the firsthalf of 2007. In addition, 67 BHCs reported earning some insuranceunderwriting fee income from underwriting or reinsuranceactivities, down from 77 BHCs a year ago.

The analysis includes a ranking of the top 50 bank holdingcompanies on the basis of the absolute dollar amount of totalinsurance revenue (earnings from sales and underwriting) and on thebasis of total insurance revenue as a percentage of theinstitution's total noninterest income. Other findings include:

Bank holding companies insurance brokerage fee income climbed 3percent from $6.26 billion in the first half of 2007 to $6.44billion in the first half of 2008, as 603 bank holding companies(63.7 percent of all top-level large BHCs reporting) engaged insales activities that produced insurance brokerage fee income

Joining the top 50 in total insurance revenue during the firsthalf of 2008 were nine BHCs: National Penn Bancshares, CoBizFinancial, Inc., Shore Bancshares, Inc., Encore Bancshares, Inc.,Tompkins Financial Corporation, VIST Financial Corp., FirstBancorp, Doral GP Ltd., and Comerica Incorporated.

Among the top 50, BBVA USA Bancshares, Inc. increased its rankin total insurance income the most, having jumped from 81st placeat mid-2007 to 14th at June 30, 2008. Encore Bancshares, Inc. andHuntington Bancshares Inc. also increased "fairly dramatically",rising, respectively, from the 72nd and 42nd positions in 2007 to41st and 12th places, the report said.

The ABIA is the separately chartered insurance affiliate of theAmerican Bankers Association (ABA) and is the only Washington,D.C.-based full service association for bank insuranceinterests.