State Farm Gets Approval to Offer Banking

The Office of Thrift Supervision, which regulates U.S. savings and loans, granted State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. a federal thrift charter, enabling the insurance company to take in deposits, make loans and provide other typical banking services. The new services will be marketed by the company’s insurance agents, first in the Bloomington, Ill., and St. Louis areas, then throughout Illinois and Missouri and eventually in Arizona. After three years, the company may opt to move into other markets, but executives at Bloomington-based State Farm offered no timeline for such an expansion. The new State Farm Bank will begin operating next spring. It will have no branches, but the agents will help customers connect with the bank, the company said.