THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 3, 1995 TAG: 9507010319
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM SHEAN, BUSINESS WEEKLY
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
For years, they have battled on Capitol Hill to keep banks out of their business.
Last week, the nation's independent insurance agents demonstrated their clout by pushing a provision through the House Banking Committee that would limit the insurance powers of banks with national charters.
Banks, including a handful in Virginia, have been steadily expanding their efforts to sell insurance. For some, the financial results so far have been modest.
``A lot of people think that because you're a bank, you'll get five times the number of appointments and five times the sales'' that an independent agent gets, said Robert C. Astrop, vice president in charge of insurance at Richmond-based Signet Bank. ``We haven't found that to be true.''
Signet, he said, has tried selling several types of insurance, including commercial lines during the 1980s. ``We could never develop a real volume'' of commercial sales and abandoned those efforts.
How are Signet's insurance sales doing?
``We have exceeded our goals, and we're pretty happy with our results,'' said Astrop. He declined to disclose the volume of the bank's insurance premiums or its earnings from insurance.
First Virginia Banks Inc., which sells a mix of commercial lines, personal lines, and group health insurance, has expanded its insurance agency in recent years by adding two smaller agencies.
``Our intention is to be able to offer a spectrum of financial products to our customers,'' said Richard F. Bowman, treasurer and chief financial officer of Falls Church-based First Virginia.
Partly because of the low interest rates available on bank certificates of deposit in recent years, many banks have had greater success at selling annuities than selling property and casualty insurance.
KEYWORDS: INSURANCE INDUSTRY by CNB