| American Banking Association | |
|---|---|
| [[Image:|200px|alt=]] | |
| Formation | 1875 in New York City |
| Type | Industry trade group and Professional association Advocay group[1] |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Region served | United States |
| Website | [2] |
The American Bankers Association (ABA) is an Industry trade group, Professional association[2] and Advocacy group.[3] group representing many of United States financial banking industry. The Associaton claims on their website that they're the "voice for the nation's $13 trillion banking industry and its 2 million employees." Spending millions on lobbying every year.[4]
The ABA represent and lobbys for many of the largest United States financial banking instituations including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo. They also Represent many smaller community banks.[5]
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The ABA is run much like a coporations where their is a Board of Directors with a President and CEO. [8]
Frank Keating is the CEO of the American Bankers Association and was the 25th Governor of Oklahoma in 1995. Born in St. Louis Missouri, he later moved and was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Keating attended Georgetown University for his undergraduate degree and received a law degree from the University of Oklahoma. He served in the field of law enforcement for 30 years and briefly became an FBI agent. Keating's political accomplishments include serving in the house and senate of Oklahoma. Keating has ties with Washington republicans, serving both Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush in the "Treasury, Justice and Housing departments. His service gave him responsibility for all federal criminal prosecutions in the nation and oversight over agencies such as the Secret Service, U.S. Customs, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Marshals, the Bureau of Prisons, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service and all 94 U.S. Attorneys. As assistant secretary of Treasury and general counsel and acting deputy secretary of HUD, Keating worked on banking issues that are demanding attention today—including housing finance, lending practices, securitization and Bank Secrecy Act issues." according to the ABA webpage of Frank Keating.[9]
The other ABA officer members include:
ABA members include banks of all sizes and charters. Its members – the majority of which are banks with less than $125 million in assets – represent over 95 percent of the industry's $13.5 trillion in assets and employ over 2 million men and women.[10]
ABA provides members with professional development opportunities including conferences, telephone briefings, diplomas and certificates, schools, online training, e-learning and certification from the Institute of Certified Bankers (ICB).
The ABA has spent $4.38 million on lobbying to Congress in the first two quarters of 2011. Consecutively spending $2.36 million for the second quarters of 2010 and 2011. According to Yahoo.com Finance "In the April-to-June period, in addition to Congress, the ABA lobbied the White House; the departments of Agriculture, Treasury and Labor; and regulators such as the Federal Reserve, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the report, filed with the Secretary of the Senate on July 19."[11]
The recent Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act introduced by Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, which was signed into law by president Obama on July 21, 2011, is being challenged publicly by the American Bankers Association, representatives of the association have publically announced that they believe that the bill should be revised.[12] Lobbying for less rigid regulation on the Volcker Rule, Derivatives Regulations, and other pieces of the bill.[13]
The American Bankers Association has many outreach programs that support low income, disadvantage communites. The Programs the ABA support includes the ABA Education Foundation and the ABA Housing Partners Foundation. [14]
The ABA Housing Partners Foundation was formally created in 1991, to help open a soup Kitchen in Washington, D.C. , where the headquarters of the ABA are. On the ABA Housing Partnership webpage they state "The Foundation has been enriching the communities that have hosted our annual conventions for 20 years. Throughout that time, the Foundation has honed its mission to promote and provide affordable housing in our local communities across the country." The Foundation also partnered up with Habitat for Humanity in 2001. The ABA has fully funded and help build homes in the cites of New Orleans, San Francisco, Las Vegas, San Diego, Washington, D.C., Orlando, Chicago, Boston and San Antonio. The cities that host their conventions.[15]
In 2004 Hurrican Katrina struck the United States, reaching the southern states that were along Gulf of Mexico coast. The Hurrican had inflicted significant damage gulf coast region, including the destruction of much of the City of New Orleans. The Hurrican also Destroyed 81 Habitat for Humanity homes, due to flooding and other hurrican related damage. The New Orleans Chapter of Habitat for Humanity lost their office space, Copier, Records and all the other things that create a business. To help Habitat, the ABA launched a "New Orleans Habitat for Humanity fund" giving the Habitat Affliate $25,000 to help rebuild their office's. On January 23, 2006 the ABA gave another $58,000 to the Habitat Chapter to help begin the rebuilding process of New Orleans.[16]
This was another program in response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. This fund was specifically created to help bank employees with emergency expenses that came up because of the hurricane. The program granted up to $1000 to defray expenses on food, shelter, evacuation travel expense or home repairs. The ABA started the program off with $25,000 by mid-Februry of 2006 the fund had raised $115,000 for 300 bank employees in need.[17]
The ABA Education Foundation's mission is to help bankers make their communities better through financial education.[18] The foundation operates two national financial education programs for bankers, Teach Children to Save and Get Smart About Credit.
It also publishes The Spirit of Banking, a monthly e-mail bulletin about financial education, advocates for banker-delivered financial education, such as in-school banks, and represents bankers within the financial education arena, specifically as part of the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy's Board of Directors.
Through its national programs, the ABA Education Foundation has helped more than 72,000 bankers teach personal finance skills to nearly 3.3 million children and young adults. Founded and funded by bankers, the foundation works closely with a board of bankers and is a subsidiary of the American Bankers Association.
The foundation also sponsors a Consumer Information page, with information about banking services, personal finances and more.
The ABA NASDAQ Community Bank Index (ABAQ) is a market value-weighted index composed of community based financial institutions. The index was launched in December 2003 to bring greater visibility to community banks, and in turn, promote greater market liquidity and fairer valuations. Calculated on both a total return basis and on a price return basis under the symbol ABAQ, it is the most broadly representative stock index for community banks.