NU Online News Service, Oct. 27, 1:34 p.m.EDT

Insurance revenue at U.S. banks was off by $100 million in thefirst six months at $23.6 billion compared to $23.7 billion duringthe first half of 2008, a consulting firm reported.

The findings were released by Michael White Associates, theRadnor, Pa., consulting firm, and the American Bankers InsuranceAssociation in Washington.

According to the report, GMAC, Southfield, Mich.; CitiGroup, NewYork; Wells Fargo & Company, San Francisco; and BB&TCorporation, Winston Salem, N.C., led all bank holding companieswith significant banking activities in total insurance fee incomein the first six months of 2009.

Michael White Associates (MWA) said its findings are based ondata reported to the Federal Reserve Board by 932 top-tier largebank holding companies, and the analysis measures the growth of thebank insurance business and provides some benchmarks that gaugebank insurance performance.

Valerie Barton, executive director of ABIA, said, "The top 50bank holding companies in insurance revenue attained a meanconcentration ratio of total insurance revenue to noninterestincome of 13.6 percent.

She noted, "Among the top 50 in this Concentration Ratio, themean was 45.9 percent. Those levels of Insurance Concentrationdemonstrate considerable contribution to BHCs' noninterest income.Insurance consistently proves it is a valuable revenue-generatingactivity during good times and bad times."

MWA found that during the first six months of 2009, 581 largetop-tier bank holding companies (62.3 percent of all top-levellarge BHCs reporting) earned some type of insurance-relatedrevenue, compared to 568 in the first half of 2008.

In addition, 56 BHCs reported earning some insuranceunderwriting fee income from underwriting or reinsuranceactivities, up from 52 BHCs a year ago.

Bank insurance underwriting and reinsurance income increased 1.3percent from $17.3 billion at June 30, 2008 to $17.5 billion in thefirst half of 2009, as 56 bank holding companies (6 percent of alltop-level large BHCs reporting) engaged in sales activities thatproduced insurance underwriting fee income.

Joining the top 50 in total insurance revenue during the firsthalf of 2009 were nine BHCs: GMAC Inc.; Goldman Sachs Group Inc.,New York; American Express Company, New York; Discover FinancialServices, Riverwoods, Ill.; Armed Forces Benefit Association,Alexandria, Va.; Morgan Stanley, New York; CIT Group Inc., NewYork; and NBT Bancorp Inc., New York.

Except for NBT Bancorp, the other new entrants into the top 50were all newly chartered bank holding companies. As a result of theentry of the new bank holding companies, all previously top-rankedBHCs declined in the rankings. NBT Bancorp Inc. increased its rankin total insurance income, having jumped from 129th place atmid-2008 to 40th at June 30, 2009.

For the top five BHCs, the total insurance income listed was:GMAC Inc., $1.7 billion; Citigroup, $1.5 billion; Bank of America,$1.4 billion; Wells Fargo, $1.2 billion; and BB&T, $534million.