Bank sales of mutual fund and annuities improved in the third quarter, according to data released last week by the Federal al Deposit Insurance Corp.
Insured commercial banks in the United States reported $141.6 billion of mutual fun sales for the three months ended Sept. 30
That was a 42% increase from the second quarter, when banks sold $100 billion of mutual funds.
Sales of annuities also jumped more than 32%, from $3.1 billion in the second quarter to $4.1 billion in the next quarter.
The figures were culled from call report data filed by 2,457 banks that sell investments. Bank regulators began collecting this information in the first quarter.
The data, which cover sales of money market funds, stock and bond funds, and annuities, reflect the face value of investment sales.
They are not adjusted to reflect redemptions.
The data showed that money market mutual funds remain bank customers, favorite investment product by far.
In the third quarter, banks sold $130.9 billion worth of money market funds, up from $93.1 billion the preceding quarter.
Bond fund sales totaled $4.7 billion in the third quarter, up from $2.9 billion in the second. But sales of stock funds edged down, to $2.5 billion, from $2.7 billion.
Annuities, whose sales rose by $1 billion, took up some of the slack.
The data also showed that investment sales remain a small factor on banks, bottom lines. Banks took in $1.1 billion of fund sales and servicing fees, or 0.45% of the industry's gross operating income.
That was up from $584 million in the second quarter.
