Timothy Brenner

That's the view of Timothy Brenner, administrative vice president and head of M&T Insurance Services, a unit of M&T Bank Corporation, a $33 billion bank holding company based in Buffalo, New York.
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That said, LTC currently accounts for about 20 percent of the bank agency's life insurance revenues, according to Brenner.
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Indeed, about 70 percent of the Series 7, insurance-licensed financial consultants actually sell the product, Brenner reckons.
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- Tim Brenner, M&T Insurance Services
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The "more-intimate group presentation," as opposed to "the massive presentations," has been a key improvement, according to Brenner.And radio advertisements have proved to be the single most successful way of generating LTC leads.

Although M&T uses three long-term care carriers-John Hancock, UNUM, and GE Capital-"we are primarily a John Hancock company," says Brenner.John Hancock offers a strong "partnership" program in New York State, and the carrier is "easy to do business with."They offer good support, including software programs.The New York State partnership program is "very important," says Brenner.

What is the target market for long-term care insurance?Anyone from 55-85 years old, says Brenner.
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They are more open to it," says Brenner.

When we formed M&T Insurance Services in August 1997 , we started selling traditional insurance products -- life , long-term care disability -- primarily for individuals as opposed to groups -- through our bank distribution channels , said Timothy Brenner , administrative vice president at M&T Bank.Brenner's responsibilities include insurance.

For the first couple of years , it was much like a marriage.We were figuring out how to live together.We tested different distribution strategies and listened to what customers were asking us to do , he said.

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Brenner , at M&T , cited an industry study which found that bank insurance premiums grew by 18 percent from 1998 to 1999.

In 1998 , only 48 percent of banks sold general insurance.But in 1999 , 78 percent sold general insurance , he said.More banks are doing it and there are more premiums..

In 1998 , M&T had essentially a small insurance start-up operation , Brenner said , selling less than 500 policies of all kinds.This year , a few thousand policies will be sold , as a relatively new revenue stream continues to grow for the bank.

We recently completed a life insurance policy that will pay us more than $100 , 000 a year in premium , Brenner said.

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