Federal regulators have cleared a path for Kansas
City Life Insurance Co. to offer credit cards, loans, home mortgages,
checking accounts, and other traditional banking services. Kansas City
Life, based in Kansas City, Mo., joins a number of insurance companies leaping into banking in the wake of federal legislation adopted last year.
The
Office of Thrift Supervision announced on March 29 that it gave Kansas
City Life a federal thrift charter to establish Generations Bank, which
will be based in Kansas City, Mo. Kansas City Life is awaiting final
approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Tracy Knapp, president and CEO of Generations Bank, says
if all goes as planned, the bank will be open for business sometime
this summer. "We will be offering banking products and services to
employees, agents, and customers of Kansas City Life," Knapp says,
explaining that its more than 1 million customers and 3,000 agents are
spread throughout the country. The general public will be able to use
the bank, and Generations will offer services via the telephone,
Internet, mail, or by fax, Knapp says. Kansas City Life, founded in 1895, has several subsidiaries, including two other life insurance companies. They are Sunset Life Insurance Company of America and Old American Insurance Company, which are both based in Kansas City, Mo.
Others
that have established banks or received approval to do so include Aetna
Inc., American International Group, The Hartford Financial Services
Group, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., the National
Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, New York Life Insurance Co.,
and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.
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