Facts & Articles On The Different Types Of Insurance

Bank Life Insurance Sales Continue Steady Growth: Kehrer-LIMRA

Windsor, CT (Vocus) January 17, 2007 -- The typical bank in the latest Kehrer-LIMRA Bank Life Insurance Sales Study increased its new life sales revenue by an estimated 15 percent last year, on the heels of a similar increase the previous year.

"Banks are making steady progress in tapping their customer base for life sales, even though customer penetration remains low," said Kenneth Kehrer, Ph.D., co-director of the study. "The typical bank selling life insurance produced only $1.33 in new life sales commissions per customer household of the bank."

At the same time, the profit margin for banks' life insurance sales programs was 42 percent on average, which compares favorably with other uses of bank sales staff. For example, the profit margin in the typical bank investment sales program was 24 percent last year.

"While banks seem to produce high profit margins from life insurance relative to other investment product sales, overall revenue penetration remains disproportionately low," said Chris Bergeon, vice president, Great-West Life, a co-sponsor of the study. "In order to achieve more meaningful revenues and customer penetration levels, banks should work with carriers to increase their sales staff's life insurance participation and productivity."

While banks have a variety of ways to sell life insurance at their disposal, including financial consultants, licensed platform bankers, direct response methods, retail agents, advanced agents and referrals to outside agencies in the bank, most focus on only one or two.

"Fifty-three percent of banks reported using only one method of distribution for their life insurance programs, and 27 percent of banks use more than two methods, up from 20 percent in 2004," said Joan H. Cleveland, senior vice president, Business Development, Individual Life Division of co-sponsor Prudential Financial. "But this research shows that the typical bank could increase its customer penetration by 135 percent just by selling life insurance through four compatible distribution channels - direct response, platform bankers, financial consultants and advanced agents - even if they achieved only average penetration from each method."

"By banks utilizing multiple distribution channels, they are in fact giving their customers multiple access points and allowing consumers to buy coverage when and how they want. That indeed will increase customer penetration."

Banks also continue to rely on part-time sales people, such as financial consultants (who primarily sell investment products) and licensed platform bankers, to sell their life and health insurance products. However, advanced agents, who focus on estate planning and business succession solutions, remain the most productive distribution channel, generating more than $344,000 in first-year life commission per agent.

Sales force compensation consumes 40 percent of first year-revenue and 32 percent of total revenue in the typical bank life sales program. Median sales force compensation as a percent of commission revenue is much higher for advanced agents than financial consultants and licensed bankers. Advanced agents however had the greatest contribution to gross margin compared to other methods, followed by referrals to outside agencies, licensed bankers and financial consultants.

"Banks can do a lot to improve customer penetration for life insurance," said Richard Hotham, vice president, Financial Institutions, Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston, another co-sponsor. "The research shows that if a typical bank could achieve the best practices level of the four compatible distribution methods, it would achieve a ten-fold improvement in revenue penetration. Actions such as reevaluating their number of distribution channels, managing sales productivity by instituting sales objectives and developing partnering relationships with insurance carriers could go a long way to enhance not only revenue penetration improvement but also enhance profitability."

The 2005-2006 Kehrer LIMRA Bank Life Insurance Sales Study benchmarks life and health insurance sales in financial institutions and identifies best industry practices. Seventy-three banks participated in the study, which is broadly representative of those that are actively marketing life and health insurance.

This seventh annual study examines revenue contribution and profitability of selling life and health insurance relative to the sizes of participating banks and the age of participating banks' life-health insurance programs. It also examines the success banks are achieving with various ways of selling life insurance. The other sponsors of the study include MetLife, Nationwide, Transamerica Capital, and Vantis Life.

About Kehrer-LIMRA

Kehrer-LIMRA, a subsidiary of LIMRA Services, is the leading provider of information and consulting services on financial institutions as financial services stores. The firm's studies of sales penetration, profitability, compensation, and compliance have helped many banks, savings associations, and credit unions benchmark their investment sales program performance and understand the key drivers of success. LIMRA International is a worldwide research, consulting and performance improvement organization that helps more than 800 insurance and financial services companies in 60 countries increase their marketing and distribution effectiveness.

###

Other Article Sites

findabook.com  moneycd.info  a-mortgage.info   about-lemon-laws.info  aboutstudentloans.info
all-about-publishing.info  auctions-articles.info  bestcollege-university.com  bestispconnection.com
biblefolder.com  blogger-website.com  books-used.info  brokers-guide.info  buywindows.info  cable-dsl.info
career-miner.com  carpel-tunnel.info  cashinaflash.info  cashloanreviews.info  casinobell.com  chat-house.info
clearmycredit.info  collegeloantips.info  crones.info  depression-articles.info   dirnic.net  dishguides.info
divers-below.com  expodog.info   financewizz.com  fire-insurance.info  getgood.info  handleit.net   it-idea.info
health-supplies.info  hosting-right.com  insidealert.com  insurance-facts.info  jobs-employment.info
justgood.info  lookgold.net   lowcost-travel.info  money-source.info  myhostzone.info  numisblog.com
peoplesearchfinder.info  pr-articles.info  realeas.com   refinancing-guides.info  spyware-remove.info
telelot.info  the-law.info   toppaid.info  travel-deals.info  travelcorrect.com  wedding-guide-site.com
your-blog.info  your-credit.info

Car Insurance Tips To Save You Money
Brits waste thousands of pounds each year on car insurance because they do not understand some of the car insurance tips that could save them money. Car insurance protection is extremely important for the peace of mind of motorists. Car insurance that offers a great combination of coverage benefits at a reasonable price is important.

American Family Health Insurance
Looking for health insurance? Want to buy a plan with a reputable company?

Auto Insurance, It's No Joke
Ron White is a blue collar comedian who tells a great tale about a man who, in the face of an oncoming hurricane declares that he's in great physical shape, so he's going to chain himself to a tree and tough out the storm.

TRAMS Expands Product by Adding Squaremouth as First Travel Insurance Comparison Solution for Travel Agents
Squaremouth, a leading online travel insurance comparison site, today announced its technology solution has been added to travel industry software provider TRAMS' product offerings. Travel agents using TRAMS Live Connect will now realize a greater product selection, increased sales, preferred supplier customization features, real time reports, saved customer quotes and more.

State Insurance Pool: Can it help you ?
Health insurance are basically interesting parts of our day-to-day life. It is only that sometimes, we are not aware of this fact!

Do I Need Critical Insurance Cover?
Critical illness insurance can be a Godsend for anyone who would suffer financially if they were to be diagnosed with a critical illness such as cancer, a heart attack or stroke. If something such as this should happen, then the bills would soon mount up, bills including your mortgage, your medical bills if any, taking care of your family and the future - these all come into play.

Term Life Insurance | Keep All the Confusions Aside and Invest in the Life Insurance Policy
Investing in any of the life insurance policies is the best ever way to save our future We all have to understand the basic principles

What Is Level Term Life Insurance?
Level term life insurance, the most common form of term life insurance, is a life insurance policy that gets straight to the point. It?s similar to regular term life insurance in that it provides pure life insurance coverage when you need it with none of the frills of whole life insurance, such as forced savings components.

Van Insurance Quotes -- Find the Right Cover For Your Business
It is essential to ensure that you can find good value van insurance quotes for your company - the difficulty is that the huge amount of insurance terminology can occasionally make it hard to figure out just what cover you need, and what you don't.

Whole Life InsuranceWe Reap What we Save From Our Earnings so Invest Wisely in the Life Insurance Policy
We all should be very concerned about money, family?s protection and then make sound investments Though your earning capacity is excellent, and even if your bank account doesn?t quite meet your expectations, it is always wise to try to expand your savings in abundance and invest in any good life insurance policy

How To Find The Best Rates On Health Insurance In Connecticut
If you?re a Connecticut resident looking to find the best rates on Health Insurance, there are many options to take advantage of. Most probably the best rates are afforded to employers with a large employee base. However, if you are recently unemployed, self-employed or have been without employment beyond for more than 18 months, there are health insurance options for you too.

Green Business Insurance, Inc. Offers Commercial Insurance To Green Businesses
Green Business Insurance, Inc. is an independent insurance agency that focuses solely on providing property and casualty insurance services to green businesses. Pat Thompson, CPCU, President of Green Business Insurance, Inc., believes green businesses are an excellent market for insurance companies to pursue with superior rates and coverage because green business owners and employees are inherently very good risk managers therefor less likely to report an insurance claim.

Free Rental Insurance
When you need to rent a car, one of the most important things to do is make sure you have insurance. In the event of a theft or an accident in which the vehicle is written off, you must cover the excess value of the vehicle. This can amount to several thousands of dollars that will be added to your rental bill!

7 Tips Toward Helping You Reduce Your Insurance Costs
Not a year goes by that insurance rates go up. At least it seems that way.