Travelers Life and Annuity says it expects to sign on five bank distribution partners this year as part of an aggressive growth plan for 2005 in the bank channel.
Lou DiGiacomo, the executive vice president of life sales at the Citigroup subsidiary, said Travelers Life generates 5% of its annual premium through bank sales. It sold $21 million of life insurance through banks last year, up from $7.5 million in 2003.
Travelers Life announced the hiring of Bill D. Fife this week to be its national vice president of sales for the bank channel. He will lead the effort to distribute life insurance products through banks.
Travelers Life sells individual annuities and life insurance products. It also is a provider of institutional annuities, including payout annuities and structured settlement annuities.
The insurance subsidiary has bank relationships with its parent, Citigroup, and with M&T Bank in Buffalo, Mr. DiGiacomo said. "We are also close to signing on two more banks," he said, but declined to name them.
"We have a goal of signing on five more entities," said Mr. DiGiacomo. Banks are disposed to work with Travelers, he added, because it has products specifically tailored for them as well as a dedicated internal sales team.
Travelers Life views bank channel sales as an integral part of its overall strategy, Mr. DiGiacomo said, adding that broker-dealers, including those available through Citigroup, bolster insurance sales.
The Travelers Life and Annuity division of Citigroup includes Travelers Insurance Co. and Travelers Life and Annuity Co., which issue the insurance products.
Before joining Travelers, Mr. Fife was a senior vice president at Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Philadelphia, where he was responsible for overall growth and development of the Independence Financial Network.
Travelers Life's products address the asset protection, retirement planning, and estate preservation needs of its customers. It had about $72 billion of assets under management at Sept. 30.
