Is convergence dead? Yes and nodepending on how you define it.
If you view convergence as mega-merger activity between banks and insurers, which some originally had forecast in the wake of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act (GLB) that re-moved regulatory barriers between banking and insurance (at least in principle, if not in practice), then yes, its dead.
Proof is both anecdotal and statistical. There hasnt been a flood of headlines announcing major bank-insurance mergers. Numbers from the FDIC show just three percent of savings banks were involved in insurance underwriting in the first quarter of 2003. The Mid-Year Bank Insurance & Investment Fee Income Report, published by Michael White Associates, shows insurance income generated by banks declined in the first six months of 2003 compared to 2002. And according to Forrester Research, banks account for just 1.8 percent of life insurance premium and just over $12 billion of the $1 trillion property/casualty premium pie.
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