ChaseBank One Deal Combines 2 Bank Insurance Powerhouses

Chase, too, has its own insurance company, which it developed on its own, Kehrer notes. That carrier is primarily engaged in sales of annuities.

Both banks "have broad insurance businesses, so it will be interesting to see how they put them together and manage them," he says.

Michael White, head of Michael White Associates, Radnor, Pa., says that, based on data filed in 2002, combined fee income for all kinds of insurance for the 2 companies would have totaled $342 million, putting them past BB&T, Winston-Salem, N.C., and just behind MetLife and Wells Fargo in terms of insurance underwriting.

Much of that underwriting would have been for credit insurance, White notes.

Chase alone ranked fifth in 2002 in terms of total insurance underwritten, with $220 million of premium, while Bank One was sixth, with $157 million.

In investment fee income, Chase was second in 2002 and Bank One was 14^th, White reports.

The combined banks, with $1.1 trillion in assets, would have 2,300 branches in 17 states and hold leading positions in retail banking, asset management, private banking, private equity and other financial products and services, according to the merger announcement.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, January 16, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.