= Members Only Content
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 4, 2011
ABIA Media Contact: Sarah Grano
(202) 663-5468
E-mail: sgrano@aba.com
ABIA REPORT DEFINES BEST PRACTICES
FOR AGENCY NEW BUSINESS
WASHINGTON — The highest rate of referrals for new business from bank divisions to insurance divisions occurs at institutions that make cross-selling a priority, according to the latest Bank-Insurance Viability Index, a quarterly report compiled by MarshBerry and sponsored by the American Bankers Insurance Association. The report found that the banks with the highest referral rates out-performed the average banks by nearly double in several categories including financial services, employee benefit, personal, commercial and small commercial.
According to the report, the most successful rate of new business from bank referrals occurs when agencies include cross-selling goals as part of annual performance reviews; use CRM programs to track referral and selling activities; hold bank and insurance relationship management meetings; hold monthly pipeline meetings that review pipeline, educate others on product, build relationships and celebrate successes; provide incentives for cross-selling referrals and results; and hire business development officers that bridge relationship gaps between the organizations.
The Bank-Insurance Viability Index provides benchmarking statistics to help bank-insurance platforms realize equity enhancing change. The quarterly report dissects the financial and operational performance of banks, independent agents and brokers, and high performers. It 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.
The American Bankers Insurance Association is the separately chartered insurance subsidiary of the American Bankers Association and is the only Washington, D.C.-based full service association for bank insurance interests. 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
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
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