Wells Fargo Insurance a Pillar for Growth for Bank Parent

Aton says insurance is viewed as "a key strategic part of the Wells Fargo brand" and the job of its insurance executives is not to be a disappointment as a member of the financial family. One major piece of that success is the growth of the company's employee-benefits division, which Aton says "has made us a much better player" in the insurance industry.

Kent Boyer, executive vice president, employee-benefits practice group, explains that the bank's commercial customers are seeking broader solutions from the institution for what they can't do on their own and Wells Fargo understands the growth potential in serving their customers' needs.

Placing more emphasis on the property and casualty concerns of its customers, the firm established the employee-benefits segment. At a time when businesses are trying to figure out the complexities of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the need is especially acute, says Boyer. As the largest provider of small-business loans and a major provider of middle-market loans, he says Wells Fargo is "in a unique position" to provide both banking and insurance solutions to clients.

Aside from concentrating on growth from the employee-benefits business, Aton envisions growth in the insurance segment organically and through acquisition.

He says many small agencies and brokers realize they lack the expertise to develop the kinds of solutions to healthcare questions that many commercial clients are dealing with today.

The smaller agencies, says Aton, see value in uniting with a larger partner with a decentralized business model that puts "enormous power" in the hands of executives in the local market.

While pursuing a robust acquisition strategy, which Aton says should bear fruit soon, insurance services is seeking to grow its commercial brokerage business by tapping into Wells Fargo's cross-selling potential.

In the past, cross selling accounted for only 10 percent of the firm's organic growth. The firm's goal is to increase that percentage to 50 percent, and they have managed to do that on several occasions, he says.

That growth, Aton notes, comes from a wide range of lines of business that runs from personal lines to commercial small-business customers. More recently, the firm has focused on the upper middle-market risk-management space.

When asked why Wells Fargo would succeed in its cross-selling model where other banks have failed, Aton says that cross selling goes to the culture of the company.

He says there is a "passionate culture" of customer service where company members want to provide good service and see customers succeed by providing for all their financial needs, whether that is in banking or insurance.

"That is in the DNA of all our team members," says Aton.

Along those lines, Aton says the company is utilizing innovative technology solutions for commercial clients.

One solution allows the bank's commercial customers to access their banking and insurance transactions in one place over an Internet portal. He says 21,000 users utilize the system 10,000 times a month for their insurance needs, including obtaining declaration and insurance forms and performing work on administration of their employee-benefits program.