View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2001/05/21/13996.htm
The Independent Insurance Agents of America (IIAA) announced the launch of InsurBanc, a unique federal savings bank that consumers can access through their hometown-based independent insurance agents. As approved by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), InsurBanc is authorized to operate in three states–New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
According to the IIAA, InsurBanc offers consumers a wide array of competitive banking products, including auto loans, credit cards, home equity loans, mortgages, certificates of deposit and money market funds. For business clients, the Bank offers working capital lines of credit, commercial real estate loans and cash management services.
Over the last three years 840,000 small businesses moved their business away from big banks to relationship banking-oriented thrifts, credits unions and community banks, according to a new study from a leading financial services research firm, Informa Research Services.
In addition to a customer service focused approach, InsurBanc is designed to compete in the Internet economy, and has been structured from the ground up to provide accessibility. Customers can transact business with InsurBanc whenever and wherever they wish-on the Web, fax or phone.
Association President William F. Hofmann III, a partner in Provider Insurance Group of Belmont, Mass., says IIAA began developing InsurBanc approximately two years ago to help consumers better negotiate the increasingly complex financial services marketplace, which is undergoing a massive wave of consolidation and change spurred by financial services integration.
That trend gained considerable momentum in November 1999 when then- President Bill Clinton signed into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which allows commercial banks, insurance companies and securities firms to operate under one roof.
Headquartered in Farmington, Conn., InsurBanc (http://www.InsurBanc.com ) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Peyton Street Independent Financial Services Corporation, a thrift holding company jointly owned by IIAA and W. R. Berkley Corporation and its subsidiaries. W. R. Berkley Corporation is a publicly traded insurance holding company headquartered in Greenwich, Conn. W. R. Berkley Corporation’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William R. Berkley has broad experience in both the insurance and banking industries.
Organized in 2001, InsurBanc is a federal savings bank, the deposits of which are insured to applicable limits by the FDIC.