Monthly Archives: November 2009

Sun Life advertises no government bailouts

A couple of weeks ago, Sun Life announced the launch of a new advertising campaign (“Get to Know Sun Life”), designed to raise Sun Life’s brand awareness in the U.S.  (See http://www.gettoknowsunlife.com/)

sun_life_no_bailout_ad

At the same time Sun Life is also running online advertising that emphasizes the fact that it have never received a government bailout in its 144+ years of existence.   The advertising is a counter of how long Sun Life Financial has gone without bailout money.  In addition to emphasizing Sun Life’s financial strength, it also highlights its longevity.

Many banks, insurers and investment firms have highlighted the fact that they have not received government funding–or have repaid the funding–in investor and analyst presentations, but very few financial institutions have launched advertising around this topic.

3Q09 Bank deposit trends

The large U.S. banks continued to reduce rates paid on interest-bearing deposits in 3Q09, as deposit competition eases.  Many banks reported q/q declines in average deposits.  However, with banks’ loan portfolios also shrinking, most of these banks improved their loan-to-deposit ratios.

The largest banks (Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Chase) offer by far the lowest rates; Wells Fargo’s rate fell 3 bps between 2Q09 to 3Q09, to 0.57%.  Regional banks maintain relatively higher rates, with KeyBank’s average rate above 2%.

For most banks, there was stronger growth in noninterest-bearing deposits, with many regional banks reporting double-digit annualized increases between 2Q09 and 3Q09.

Bank

Average Interest-Bearing Deposits ($BN, 3Q09)

Annualized Change in Interest-Bearing Deposits
(2Q09-3Q09)

Rate on Interest-Bearing Deposits (3Q09)

Rate Change (2Q09-3Q09)

Non-Interest Deposits (3Q09)

Annualized change in Non-Interest Deposits (2Q09-3Q09)

Bank of America (domestic)

$654.2

+6%

0.98%

-24 bps

$259.6

+18%

Wells Fargo

$633.4

-3%

0.57%

-3 bps

$172.6

-4%

Chase

$661.0

-7%

0.65%

-5 bps

N/A

N/A

PNC

$146.9

-13%

1.04%

-21 bps

$41.8

+8%

U.S. Bank

$129.4

+11%

0.92%

-8 bps

$37.0

-4%

SunTrust

$95.2

-2%

1.40%

-27 bps

$24.5

-1%

Capital One

$103.1

-15%

1.86%

-22 bps

$12.8

+6%

BB&T

$89.9

+56%

1.37%

-26 bps

$17.4

+50%

Regions

$73.7

-5%

1.62%

-16 bps

$21.1

+14%

Key

$54.4

-3%

2.10%

-12 bps

$13.6

+37%

Zions

$31.9

-4%

1.21%

-25 bps

$11.4

+27%

M&I

$33.5

+12%

1.58%

-13 bps

$7.9

+28%

Huntington

$33.4

-1%

1.92%

-19 bps

$6.2

+5%