Securities America in the News

November 08, 2011 | Press Releases

Michael White-Securities America Report: Community Bank Investment Programs Have Best 1st Half in Three Years

LA VISTA, Neb. – Nov. 8, 2011 – Community bank investment programs continued to perform well in the first half of 2011, with modest increases in securities brokerage fee income and double-digit growth in annuity commissions, according to the Michael White-Securities America Report: Community Bank Investment Programs™.



The report measures and benchmarks investment programs at community banks, i.e., banks with less than $4 billion in assets, based on data reported by all 6,805 commercial banks and FDIC-regulated savings banks operating on June 30, 2011. The report examines the 6,639 community banks among the 6,805 and further segments them into five asset classes whose performance is also analyzed.



“Bank investment programs are an important segment of our business,” said Gregg Johnson, Securities America senior vice president and director of branch development. “These benchmarks are an essential tool for our advisors and the bank programs they support.”



“This first-half 2011 report finds community banks’ investment program revenues have exceeded revenues generated in the first half of 2010,” said Michael White, who directed the research. “In fact, revenues of community bank investment programs continue to be the best since 2008. In addition, second quarter 2011 mean program income is 6.5 percent higher than second quarter 2010 and ranks as the second highest quarter on record in mean program income, behind only first quarter 2011.”



The report analyzed several key measurements commonly used in banks:

• Program Production – investment program fee income


• Program Penetration – program revenue generated per million dollars of core or retail deposits


• Program Concentration – the portion of total noninterest income attributable to a specific kind of noninterest fee income as an indicator of how meaningful bank investment programs are among banks’ non-lending activities


• Program Productivity – program fee income per bank employee


• Program Density – program fee income per domestic banking office

The report also analyzed the growth in income from securities brokerage fees and annuity fees and identified which community banks were leading in those areas of income. CenterState Bank of Florida (FL) led in investment income with $10.8 million. In the area of annuity fee income, Lake City Bank (IN) led with $1,065,000. For more details on the survey results, visit www.BankInsurance.com.



About Securities America

Headquartered in La Vista, Neb., Securities America Inc. is the nation’s eighth largest independent broker-dealer (as ranked by Financial Planning magazine, June 2012, based on 2011 total revenue). For more than 25 years, Securities America’s mission has been to foster the success of financial professionals so they can provide quality, objective counsel and services to their clients. Advisors benefit from the firm’s industry-leading programs in practice management, advisory services and retirement income distribution, supported by state-of-the-art technology. Founded in 1993, Securities America Advisors Inc. is an SEC-Registered Investment Advisory firm that offers investment management, financial advice and financial planning through a national network of independent financial advisors. Securities America Financial Corp. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (NYSE MKT: LTS). Securities America received the inaugural Thought Leadership Award from the Retirement Income Industry Association in March 2011. Additional information is available at  www.securitiesamerica.com.