NEWS RELEASE
July 19, 2010
ABIA Media Contact: Jonathan Snowling
(202) 663-5468
E-mail: jsnowlin@aba.com

ABIA AND MARSHBERRY RELEASE BANK-INSURANCE VIABILITY INDEX
Aging workforce a concern for perpetuation prospects

WASHINGTON – The ABIA and MarshBerry Bank-Insurance Viability Index shows that only 31.2 percent of producers in the average bank-owned agency are under the age of 40 years compared to 40.3 percent for peak-performing independent organizations.

In the average bank-insurance agency, producers over the age of 50 years handle approximately 48.8 percent of all customer related commissions and fees as well as 44.3 percent of all annual new business sales. Comparatively, in the peak performing private agencies, producers over the age of 50 years handle only 36.9 percent of commissions and fees and 36.4 percent of new business production.

The quarterly report compiled by MarshBerry and sponsored by the American Bankers Insurance Association provides benchmarking statistics to help bank-insurance platforms realize equity enhancing change.

The Bank-Insurance Viability Index dissects the financial and operational performance of banks, independent agents and brokers, and high performers. The report focuses on the retail brokerage platform and covers topics such as organic growth; new business production; acquired growth; earnings margins; expense ratios; staff investment and staff productivity.

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The American Bankers Insurance Association (ABIA) is the separately chartered insurance affiliate of the American Bankers Association (ABA) and is the only Washington, D.C.-based full service association for bank insurance interests. The ABIA's mission is to develop policy and provide advocacy for banks in insurance and to support bank insurance operations through research, education, compliance-assistance and peer group networking opportunities. ABIA Membership consists of banks, and their affiliated agencies, insurance companies, marketing, and administrative services suppliers, non-bank lending organizations and other firms involved in the bank affiliated insurance industry. Additional information on the ABIA can be found on the Internet at www.theabia.com.

MarshBerry is a specialized management consulting firm rendering services and solutions to insurance organizations, financial services providers, lending institutions and trade associations.  Client engagements focus on organic growth, valuations, mergers and acquisitions, operational improvements, research and insights on benchmarking, and proven practices of high performers. 
 

For additional information contact:
Valerie Barton
American Bankers Insurance Association
1120 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036
Email: vbarton@aba.com
Phone: (202) 663-5072
Fax: (202) 828-4546
www.TheABIA.com

John Wepler
MarshBerry
Email: John@MarshBerry.com
Phone: 440-392-6572
www.MarshBerry.com