Banks nationally and in Western New York are gobbling up independent insurance agencies and building their own from scratch, in a bid to capitalize on another source of income while meeting a customer need.

Since the regulatory and legal climate changed seven years ago, U.S. banks have eagerly jumped into selling insurance. Most standard insurance products are viewed as just another financial services product, so the banks see it as a service they should be providing.

Many of the largest banks have offered life insurance, annuities and similar investment products for several years, either through licensed sales representatives in branches or through money management units. That’s the case with Citigroup, Bank of America Corp., KeyCorp, Citizens Financial Group’s Charter One Bank and HSBC Bank USA.

But many small and mid-sized banks have also been pushing into property and casualty insurance, particularly on the commercial side, by acquiring independent insurance agencies. And they’ve sought to grow that part of their business across their branch network as a way of cementing relationships with customers by meeting more of their overall needs.

Locally, First Niagara, M&T Bank Corp., and Evans have led the way, snapping up at least 19 insurance agencies between them from Buffalo to Albany since 1999. All told, they brought in about $42 million in insurance revenues last year.

And all three have expressed firm intentions to continue growing those businesses.

Read more :