STATE FARM GOES BANKING

State Farm Insurance Cos. has received federal approval to offer banking services nationwide by late 2001. The company opened State Farm Bank in 1999, and began training Chicago-area agents to sell its bank products earlier this year.

Those products include checking accounts, loans and certificates of deposit. The bank has no branch offices, but customers can access it through agents, automated teller machine cards, the Internet, and by mail and telephone.