Insurance-brokerage fees for bank-holding companies were up morethan 14 percent over the first three quarters of 2011, but the twomajor bank-owned P&C brokers saw their fees drop over theperiod.

The Michael White-Prudential Bank Fee Income Report, releasedFeb. 7, says insurance-brokerage fees came in at a record $5.89billion over the first three quarters of 2011, an increase from theprevious year's $5.14 billion.

For just the third quarter, fees rose 57 percent over the sameperiod in 2010, or $730 million, to $2.01 billion.

The results were the highest-ever third-quarter results, thereport says, and rank as the third-highest quarterly amount ininsurance-brokerage-revenue history.

Through the first three quarters of 2011, Wells Fargo & Co.ranked second on the list with brokerage-fee revenue of $1.26billion, which is down close to 6 percent from 2010.

BB&T, ranked third, saw its insurance-fee income drop lessthan 1 percent to $707 million.

Number one on the list is CitiGroup, which engages primarily inlife and financial-services brokering. CitiGroup reported itsbrokerage-fee income rose 25 percent to $1.66 billion.

The results were compiled from data from all 6,740 commercialand FDIC-supervised banks and 927 top-tier bank-holding companiesoperating on Sept. 30, 2011.

Michael White, president of Michael White Associates, saysoverall, bank-holding companies grew their revenues “in ameaningful way.”

White says that an examination showed that of 155 banks with atleast $1 million in annualized insurance-brokerage income, four hadno growth during the first three quarters of last year. Eightybanks had positive brokerage-fee growth, and 71 had declines.

“These changes signal improvement among bank-holding-companyagencies and offer hope that the economy is finally beginning toimprove a bit—and the P&C insurance markets are starting toharden,” he adds.