NU Online News Service, Oct. 17, 1:40 p.m. EDT

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. says 2011 third-quarter income in its insurance-services segment improved 7 percent on a year-over-year basis, but dropped 26 percent on a quarter-to-quarter basis.

The banking company reports insurance services grew $26 million to $423 million from the third quarter last year to the third quarter this year.

On a quarter-to-quarter basis, insurance services were down by $145 million, from $568 million for the second quarter this year.

The bank says insurance fees were down “almost entirely due to seasonality in crop insurance.”

Wells Fargo owns Wells Fargo Insurance Services USA, a major middle-market insurance brokerage firm. Under its umbrella of insurance services, the bank operates an agribusiness insurance-services unit.

The bank as a whole says net income for the third quarter was $4.1 billion up 21 percent, or $716 million, from the same period last year. Earnings per share rose 13 cents to 73 cents a share. Revenue was down 6 percent, or $1.25 billion, to $19.6 billion.

For the first three months of this year, net income is up 31 percent, or $2.8 billion, to $11.8 billion. Earnings per share increased 50 cents to $2.11. Revenue was off 5 percent, or $3.4 billion, to $60.3 billion.

According to Thomson Reuters, earnings per share was 1 cent off analyst consensus estimates of 74 cents a share.