unions and the Farm Credit System. For example, we are pushing strongly against a recent National Credit Union Administration effort to further loosen field of membership restrictions — a move that even the agency’s former chairman blasted as “abandon[ing] rigorous and introspective analysis and its congressional mandate to stay clearly within the four corners of the Federal Credit Union Act.”
And, should policymakers accelerate attempts to push the Federal Reserve or the U.S. Postal Service into retail banking, we’ll continue making the case that this kind of involvement is unnecessary because consumers are already being well-served by a broad and diverse financial services sector. In 2019, the share of unbanked U.S. households reached a record low of 5.4 percent, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and banks are working to close that gap through the Bank On movement. With a fast-growing number of banks signed on, Bank On-certified accounts are now offered in 28,000 branches nationwide, in 99 out of the 100 largest metropolitan markets and in all 50 states.
For us to be able to convey this message, however, we must ensure that community banks have the capacity and ability to keep innovating. Tat’s why we’ve been working diligently through ABA’s Core Platforms Committee to smooth over some of the bumps in the road that have historically held banks back from rolling out new digital products and services that their customers want and that they need to remain competitive.
By supporting the digital transition — an effort that was well underway before the pandemic but is now accelerating at even faster pace — America’s banks can continue their work to support an economic recovery that is robust and inclusive.
Email Rob Nichols at
nichols@aba.com. THE MISSOURI BANKER 7
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