So far in 2011, more that 62 percent of large, top-tier bank holding companies engaged in insurance brokerage services, the report notes.

Of the top 12 bank holding companies, in terms of insurance brokerage fee income, Citigroup Inc. holds the top spot with more than $1.12 billion in fee income in the second quarter, an increase of more than 45 percent or $348 million over last year. For the six months, fee income is up 64 percent, or $653 million, to $1.67 billion over last year.

Wells Fargo & Co. came in second with $923 million in fee income, down 8 percent, or $82 million in the quarter. Over the first six months of this year, fee income is down 10 percent, or $158 million, to $1.38 billion.

In third place is BB&T Corp. with $493 million in the quarter, an increase of almost 2 percent, or $8.6 million over last year. Fee income over the first six months grew close to 1 percent over last year, or $5.8 million, to $715 million. BB&T owns more agencies that any other financial holding company, the report notes.

Michael White, president of Radnor, Pa.-based Michael White Associates, a bank insurance consulting firm that compiled the data, says for the first six months of this year the number of bank holding companies that grew insurance brokerage fee revenue was about equal to the number of banks that did not.

Of the 154 banks with at least $1 million in annualized insurance brokerage revenue, three had no growth, 74 exhibited positive growth while 77 saw declines.

Of these, 36 banks had increases in insurance fees under 10 percent and 40 saw declines of less than 10 percent. On the other hand, 38 banks saw their insurance revenues rise 10 percent, while 37 experienced decreases of more than 10 percent.

“Across the country, insurance agencies and brokerages continue to be hampered by a difficult economy, soft insurance markets, and capital restraint on the part of many potential buyers, thereby inhibiting acquisitions,” says White.

The report, sponsored by The Prudential Insurance Company of America's Individual Life Insurance business, is based on data from all 6,805 commercial banks and FDIC-supervised savings banks and 934 large top-tier bank holding companies operating on June 30 of this year.