Bank holding companies' insurance revenues increased 1 percentfor the first half of this year, a trade group reported.

The statistic was announced by American Bankers InsuranceAssociation in Washington, D.C., and the Radnor, Pa.-based MichaelWhite Associates consulting firm.

In their quarterly report on bank holding companies, ABIA andMichael White found insurance revenues rose $300 million to $21.7billion for the first half of 2007.

The report examined data from 951 large bank holding companiesas reported to the Federal Reserve Board.

Valerie Barton, executive director of ABIA, said in a statement,"While the industry's growth in total insurance revenue was slightin the first half of 2007, it was remarkable, especially when oneconsiders that charter conversions and sales of bank agencies tononbanks represented a loss close to $700 million in bank holdingcompany insurance income so far this year."

Charter changes took place when bank holdings companies becamethrift holding companies, which are not required to report the sameamount of detail and do not report brokerage income.

The report noted other banks had sold their p-c lines to majorbrokerage firms, mentioning the three banks that sold theiroperations to Hub International, Ltd., and JPMorgan Chase'sdecision to sell its p-c agency to Brown & Brown.

The report also noted the soft market cycle lowering insuranceprices as a contributing factor to slower revenue growth.

The two major p-c brokers, Wells Fargo & Company andBB&T Corporation, placed second and fourth, respectively, onthe top ten list of bank holding companies, with Citigroup Inc.taking the top spot.

Citigroup (which sells life and accident insurance) held the topspot from last year, with $1.7 billion in insurance income,followed by Wells Fargo, which retained its second place slot, with$831 million.

BB&T moved from sixth place last year to fourth, totaling$426 million in insurance income. In third place was HSBC NorthAmerica Holdings, owned by London-based HSBC Group, with $456million.

On Oct. 1, Wells Fargo closed on its deal to purchase GreaterBay Bancorp, which ranked eighth on the list at $88 million.Combining the two would still leave Wells Fargo in second at $919million.

The report said brokerage fee income rose 2 percent from $6.13billion to $6.26 billion in the first half of 2007, with 621 bankholding companies--65 percent of those banks reporting--engaged insales that produced commission and fees.

Bank holding companies that engaged in underwriting (only 8percent, or 77 banks) saw their underwriting and reinsurance incomeincrease less than 1 percent to $15.4 billion from $15.3 billionfor the same period last year.