Insurance brokerage fee income for bank holding companiesincreased 3.2 percent in the first quarter at $3.21 billion up from$3.11 billion for the same period in 2007, according to a newstudy.

The results set a quarterly record, according to the MichaelWhite-Symetra Bank Holding Company Fee Income Report.

The report, compiled by Michael White Associates, a Radnor,Pa.-based consulting firm, and sponsored by Bellevue, Wash.-basedSymetra Financial investment company, measures and benchmarks bankholding companies' performance in generating insurance, retailinvestment, annuity and mutual fund fee income.

The companies said the study is based on data reported by nearly1,000 top-tier large bank holding companies.

According to the report, bank holding companies' $3.21 billionin first-quarter bank insurance brokerage fee income alsorepresented a 7.5 percent increase from $2.99 billion infourth-quarter 2007.

Thus far in 2008, 61.4 percent of bank holding companies engagedin insurance brokerage activities, the report said.

The announcement of the results noted that bank holding companyinsurance brokerage fee income consists of commissions and feesearned by a bank holding company or its subsidiary from insuranceproduct sales and referrals of credit, life, health, property,casualty and title insurance.

It does not include income earned from the sale or servicing ofannuities, which was, until 2007, reported as insurance income whenthe sales were not made by a bank holding company's securitiesbrokerage operations.

Among companies with significant banking activities, the reportsaid, first place went to Citigroup Inc. in New York, whichreported insurance brokerage earnings of $460 million as of March31.

Wells Fargo & Company, San Francisco, ranked secondnationally with $443 million in insurance brokerage fee income.

BB&T Corporation, Winston-Salem, N.C., which owns moreagencies than any other financial holding company, ranked thirdwith $199.2 million in insurance brokerage revenue.

In fourth place was Bank of America Corp., Charlotte, N.C., with$65.4 million; and fifth place was held by HSBC North AmericaHoldings, Mettawa, Ill., with $43.1 million.

Bank holding companies with over $10 billion in assets continuedto have the highest participation (89.9 percent) in insurancebrokerage activities, the report said.

The bank holding companies, according to Michael White, produced$3 billion in insurance fee income in the first quarter, 4.8percent more than the $2.9 billion they produced in first-quarter2007.

The large bank holding companies accounted for 93.8 percent ofall bank holding company insurance brokerage fee income earned infirst-quarter 2008, the report said.

Among holding companies under $1 billion in assets, the top fivein insurance brokerage fee income in the first quarter were CentralCommunity Corporation, Temple, Texas; First Manitowoc Bancorp Inc.,Green Bay, Wis.; Texas Independent Bancshares Inc., Texas City,Texas; 473 Broadway Holding Corporation, New York; and NortheastBancorp, Auburn, Maine.

The report said the concentration of insurance brokerage feeincome as a percent of noninterest income decreased from 6.9percent to 5.8 percent.

According to Michael White, this ratio of fee incomeconcentration sheds light on how concentrated or meaningfulinsurance brokerage is among bank holding corporations' nonlendingactivities.

Eight of the top 15 banks exceeded that mean ratio. Three ofthem reported insurance brokerage fee income representing more than27 percent of their noninterest income. Five of the top 15 bankshad a ratio greater than 10 percent, according to the report.