INSURBANC MARKS THREE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY
Positioned as the Bank of Choice for Independent Agents & Brokers
FARMINGTON, Conn., May 5—As it marks its third anniversary, InsurBanc has established itself as the preeminent financial partner for independent insurance agents and brokers across the country, says InsurBanc President and CEO Michael Herlihy.
InsurBanc is the federal savings bank developed jointly by the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA) and the W.R. Berkley Corporation to serve independent agents and brokers as well as their clients. InsurBanc opened April 30, 2001.
Three years later, InsurBanc has more than $32 million in deposits and $60 million in assets, including the investment of nearly $30 million in agency-related loans, including perpetuation and acquisition financing.
“InsurBanc learns more every day about the challenges agents and brokers face in their current banking arrangements and their day-to-day operations,” says Herlihy. “Agents and brokers tell us they need a bank that understands their businesses.
“To fill this need of our core constituency, InsurBanc has developed financial products and services that respond to the needs of agents and brokers and will help them grow, remain independent and increase their operational efficiencies,” explains Herlihy. “As a result, we have created an unmatched expertise in agency financing, including perpetuation and acquisition loans. We also established a state-of-the-art cash management system last summer and just recently introduced an account specifically for agency premium trust funds. Practically everything we do is with independent agents and brokers in mind.”
“InsurBanc has become the bank of choice for agents and brokers as they seek funding for acquisition and expansion strategies, perpetuation plans, and a range of other critical business needs,” says IIABA CEO Robert A. Rusbuldt.
“InsurBanc is a welcomed alternative to traditional banks because it provides financial products tailor-made for the unique needs of independent agencies and brokerage firms. Through the commitment of a staff that understands the insurance business, InsurBanc is the ‘go-to’ financial services provider for independent agents and brokers,” says Rusbuldt.
Along with agency financing products and services, InsurBanc offers working capital lines of credit, commercial term loans and commercial real estate loans. The bank also provides an array of consumer banking products that agents and brokers can offer to their clients, including consumer loans, credit cards, home equity loans, mortgages, certificates of deposit, and money market accounts.
InsurBanc combines the flexibility and convenience of technology with the personal touch of a professional staff. It has pioneered a delivery system that is national in scope, but local in its ability to service agencies. Customers can transact business with InsurBanc in whatever ways makes sense for them, including state-of-the-art online cash management. In response to input from agencies, InsurBanc developed correspondent banking relationships with several major banks across the country. This arrangement allows agencies to make commercial deposits locally with their funds being credited to their InsurBanc accounts. Customers truly can bank anytime, anywhere, at their convenience.
“It has been an exciting third year for InsurBanc. We have enhanced the banking experience for many agents and brokers,” says Herlihy. “We’re extremely proud of how our brand of banking has been so well received by the agency community. The future is indeed bright.”
Headquartered in Farmington, Conn., InsurBanc is the operating subsidiary of Peyton Street Independent Financial Services Corporation, a thrift holding company jointly owned by IIABA and W.R. Berkley Corp. and its subsidiaries. Organized in 2001, InsurBanc is a federal savings bank, the deposits of which are insured to applicable limits by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Web address: www.InsurBanc.com.
Founded in 1896, IIABA is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a network of more than 300,000 agents, brokers and their employees nationally. Its members are businesses that offer customers a choice of policies from a variety of insurance companies. Independent agents and brokers offer all lines of insurance—property, casualty, life and health—as well as employee benefit plans and retirement products. Web address: www.independentagent.com.
Founded in 1967, W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: BER) is an insurance holding company which operates in five segments of the property and casualty insurance business: specialty insurance, alternative markets, reinsurance, regional property casualty insurance and international.
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