NU Online News Service, Nov. 25, 2003, 5:45 p.m. EST – Broker productivity at regional and national banks slipped during the third quarter to $23,393 per month, 14% below the average of $27,055 achieved in the third quarter of 2002, according to new data from the Bank Insurance and Securities Association, Wayne, Pa.[@@]
The latest quarterly production average was 25% below the all-time quarterly high of $31,209 recorded in the first quarter of 2001, according to the survey results, which were compiled by Kenneth Kehrer Associates, Princeton, N.J.
The survey was sponsored by AXA Distributors, New York, a unit of AXA S.A., Paris, and a securities unit of Bank of America Corp., Charlotte, N.C.
Banks told Kehrer researchers that their retail securities programs' contribution to net income, before overhead allocation and taxes, averaged 32% of bank broker-dealer revenue in the third quarter, 2% below the average for the third quarter of 2002 and 37% below the average for the second quarter of 2003.
Although broker productivity was down, licensed platform bankers held steady. The typical platform rep generated monthly gross commission revenue of $2,021 during the quarter, 2% below the average for the same quarter last year but up slightly from the average for the second quarter of 2003. Monthly licensed banker productivity had fallen in four of the previous five quarters and remains 27% below the high of $2,752 recorded during the first quarter last year, BISA reports.
The average monthly gross production of licensed bankers was $1,782 in July, down 8% from the June average. Platform rep productivity jumped 20%, to $2,140, in August and held at about that level in September.
The monthly record for licensed platform banker productivity is $2,980. The record was set in April 2002, at the height of the fixed annuity boom, BISA says.
While fixed annuities continue to provide the largest share of bank broker-dealer revenue, their share now has shrunk for five straight quarters. Bank variable annuity sales increased but did not make up for the drop in fixed annuity sales.
Fixed annuities had accounted for over half of bank broker-dealer revenue from June 2001 until September 2002. Their share slipped to 43% in January and 38% in February, BISA says.
