Two major bank-owned insurance brokerage firms reported increased insurance revenues in the third quarter.

Wells Fargo reported yesterday that insurance brokerage fees increased 33 percent, while BB&T said today that its insurance brokerage revenues in the quarter increased 13 percent.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo said insurance rose $110 million in the quarter from $329 million last year to $439 million. For the first nine months of the year compared to same period last year, insurance rose 29 percent, or $333 million, to $1.5 billion.

The increase was based on customer growth from consumers and small business, higher crop insurance revenues, and the fourth-quarter acquisition of ABD Insurance brokerage, the company said.

However, from the second to third quarter revenues dropped $62 million on seasonally lower crop insurance revenues, Wells Fargo reported.

During a recorded message from the company, Wells Fargo Chief Financial Officer Howard Atkins said sales of insurance were driven by identity theft protection, debt cancellation, auto, homeowner and rental insurance, and crop insurance, which benefited from high commodity prices.

He said the consumer and small business insurance group grew revenue by 10 percent in the quarter.

Mr. Atkins said the company emphasizes the cross selling of its products, noting that the more products a customer has with the company, the more loyalty they will have for the company.

The company as a whole reported net income fell 25 percent in the quarter, or $536 million, from $2.17 billion to $1.64 billion. Revenues in the quarter rose $526 million, from $9.9 billion to $10.4 billion.

For the nine months, net income fell 20 percent, or $1.3 billion, from $6.7 billion to $5.4 billion. Revenues for the period were up 11 percent, or $3.2 billion, from $29.2 billion to $32.4 billion.

Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T said insurance operations increased 13 percent in the third quarter to $232 million from $206 million. The company said the increase was the result of new product initiatives introduced during the second half of 2007.

For the first nine months of the year, compared to last year, insurance operations were up 8 percent, or $49 million, to $681 million.

The company said it made three acquisitions during the period: Puckett, Scheetz & Hogan of Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Southern Risk Operations LLC, based in Sumter, S.C.; and Commercial Title Group Inc. of Vienna, Va., which was acquired in early September.

During a conference call with analysts, John A. Allison, chairman and chief executive officer, said insurance income was essentially flat quarter to quarter, and on the year-to-year comparison, income is down 21 percent. He said most of the drop was due to seasonal pricing and soft market conditions.

"We are doing extremely well...because of the very sharp decline in property-casualty insurance rates. All of our competitors are having down revenues, and we have been able to maintain, essentially, flat revenue, which I think is real evidence of a pretty significant market share move in our insurance business," he said.

As a whole, BB&T reported net income dropped 20 percent, or 65 cents a share, to $358 million. Interest income dropped 12 percent from $2.03 billion to $1.79 billion, while non-interest income in the quarter rose 17 percent to $792 million.

For the nine months, net income was down 8 percent to $1.2 billion, or $2.20 a share. Interest income dropped 7 percent to $5.5 billion while non-interest income is up 16 percent to $2.4 billion.

(This story was updated Oct. 21 at 11:37 a.m.)

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Bank-Owned Brokers Report Revenue Growth In Insurance

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