Insurance Banks Boost Agent FinancingWhile insurance industry-sponsored banks were primarily formed to provide banking products for independent agents to offer their clients, an added benefit has often turned out to be easier agency financing for expansion and technical upgrades, early participants in two banking startups agree.

The key is that banks created by insurance industry associations understand an insurance agent's business better than an unaffiliated commercial bank does, often making financing and consulting advice easier to come by for qualified agencies.

"This is a great thing for the insurance industry that has really been needed," said Ed Strenge, chief executive officer of Warren M. Gilderslever Inc. in Central Valley, N.Y., talking about Assurance Partners Bank, based in Carmel, Ind., and affiliated with the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies in Indianapolis.

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