Timothy Montales
Yesterday, Kelly King, chairman and CEO of BB&T, joked that he likes the insurance business as it was revealed that insurance makes up about 15% of BB&T’s total revenue. King’s aim is for it to eventually account for 20% of revenue.
“It does not correlate with lending risk. It does not correlate with natural economic risk. It correlates to disasters, which is an entirely different set of correlations. There’s nothing about growing the insurance business that bothers me,” King expressed during the Morgan Stanley Financial Services conference, as reported by American Banker.
Celebrate excellence in insurance. Nominate a worthy colleague for the Insurance Business Awards.
BB&T’s insurance arm generated $458 million in noninterest income in the first quarter, a 9% upgrade from the same period last year. The insurance business also helped BB&T with its capital management, he said, as banks are not required to hold as much capital against insurance assets.
Despite not making an acquisition in more than a year, the company may look to again become active on the M&A front. Since the 90s, BB&T has clinched more than 100 insurance agencies, with nine agencies under its belt in 2008 alone.
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