Wachovia May Buy Bigger Agencies

Wachovia, formerly First Union Corp., also has acquired such brokerages as Barry, Evans, Josephs & Snipes (1999); Davis Baldwin (2000); the Tribus Companies (2000); Hamilton Dorsey Alston (2001); and the assets of Crawford, Slevin & Hicks (2001).

The acquisitions extended Wachovia's insurance presence in Tampa, Atlanta, Northern Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and the District of Columbia.

In addition to paying for external growth, Wachovia has boosted sales with a program to train bank officers how to cross-sell insurance and other financial products.

"About half of our organic growth has come from cross-selling in the bank," he says.

But Wachovia does not plan to license existing personnel to sell insurance, preferring instead to refer customers to professionals in its agencies, McDowell says.

To that end, the bank has established a relationship-building program. Bankers from the top level down to branch client-relationship managers seek opportunities to refer customers to other bank specialists.

Life insurance accounts for about 15% of the bank's insurance revenues, McDowell says. But the company's core business remains traditional commercial lines. Roughly 40% of that business is employee benefits business.

"Employee benefits represents an ever-growing cost and concern to businesses, and as they continue to look for solutions, that's been a source of growth for us," McDowell reports.