Obstacles remain Impediments for banks selling personal lines remain, of course. It's still a sensitive point. Many agents have been good customers for a long time. Some bad feelings might be created with those agents if community banks were to sell insurance to their retail customers. Banks feel the need to provide a range of financial services to customers, to satisfy as many needs as they can.
Banks now have other matters higher on their agenda.
Personal lines is a commodity product. In terms of revenues, life will be bigger than personal lines alone. But if commercial insurance is added to personal lines, that combined business might be equivalent to life revenues. It's too early to comment on the results of the Liberty Mutual program, but if it works as we hope it will, we should end up with more revenues than from the affluent base. But it won't be completely lopsided.