Bank Member Benefits


Membership in ABA provides a number of benefits for financial institutions. In addition to professional development opportunities and legislative advocacy, ABA also hosts events throughout the year to allow its members to network and interact with one another. Below are details about what banks receive when they become a member of ABA.

Legislative Advocate

ABA represents banks at both the state and federal level. At the state level, the association’s governmental affairs team fights legislative attempts to raise bank income taxes, increase assessments from the State Banking Department, allow credit unions to become qualified public depositories, and weaken a creditor’s position in numerous types of personal and commercial transactions. At the federal level, the association leads three separate federal advocacy trips to Washington, D.C., including a trip in the fall that is not connected with a governmental affairs summit hosted by a national trade association. These trips feature face-to-face visits with Alabama’s entire Congressional delegation, key legislative and committee staffers, representatives of both national trade associations, and regulators at the FDIC and CFPB.  Additionally, the association provides numerous comment letters to public agencies and officials on topics such as appraisal thresholds, small business lending, tax reform proposals, and various pieces of federal legislation. 

Professional Development

ABA hosts a large number of seminars each year with training for a novice associate to the most experienced officer. These seminars cover a wide variety of topics and occur either in a classroom setting or via Internet and telephone. In addition to our one-day seminars we offer week-long performance programs designed to cover specific topics in-depth. Our performance programs include Advanced BSA/AML Academy , Advanced Lending Institute and our Advanced Compliance College .

Webinar and telephone seminars are presented throughout the year. The webinar portion allows participants to view visuals while also listening to the presentation. Each presentation is also available on a CD-ROM or as an on-demand link. Member banks receive discounted pricing on all professional development offerings.

Networking

Recognizing the importance of creating and sustaining relationships, ABA offers many networking opportunities. In addition to our major events held throughout the year, we also provide a number of peer group forums. We have forums specifically for CEOs and CFOs that meet three times a year. Non-competing banks are grouped together and long-time banker and former regulator, Karl Nelson, leads these sessions. Our Bankers 2 Leaders division hosts other peer group forums throughout the year for human resources, marketing/compliance and lending.

Alabama Banking School

Organized in 1975, the Alabama Banking School (ABS) provides a planned environment for the study of banking tailored to the needs of Alabama banks. The school is sponsored by the Alabama Bankers Association and is governed by a board of trustees. Students are in residence one week each year for the three sessions they attend. During each session, students spend a minimum of 40 hours in the classroom and work on case studies in the evenings. They also take comprehensive final exams and are assigned home study problems between resident sessions. Each session qualifies for 40 CPE credits and 12 CLE credits. Click here for more information about Alabama Banking School

Alabama Banking Services

ABA Services exists to provide exclusive ABA member pricing on a wide range of products and services. Its endorsed service providers undergo a rigorous due diligence process and are ultimately chosen by a panel of bankers. By leveraging collective bargaining and purchasing power of bankers across the state, ABA Services has negotiated cost-savings and premium services for member banks. Click here to view our current endorsed service providers.

Major Annual Events

ABA’s first event of the year is always the Bank Operations and Management Summit. Held in late February or early March, this event features nationally known speakers and is geared toward HR, marketing and IT personnel. In June, the association hosts its annual convention and trade show. The location varies, but attendance is typically between 450-500 people with at least 60 banks represented. Our biggest meeting of the year, the CEO, Bank Exec & Directors’ Conference, takes place in early August at The Grand Hotel in Point Clear. This meeting usually draws 800 or more attendees with nearly 100 banks represented. Our emerging leaders division, Bankers 2 Leaders, hosts its summer leadership conference in July. Member banks may register for all of these events at a discounted rate.

Publications

Membership also includes access to all of our association’s publications. ABA publications include:

  • Banking Traditions – Our quarterly magazine which features bank industry specific articles, event recaps, bank news and employee personnel changes.
  • Weekly News Byte – A weekly e-newsletter designed to keep ABA members up-to-date on association news and bank industry happenings.
  • Washington Regulatory Review – This monthly e-newsletter covers developments from federal regulators.
  • Board Briefs – Designed specifically for bank board members, this publication is distributed six times a year.
  • Financial Directory – This annual publication features financial data for all the banks in Alabama. Published in January, the data is from June 30 call reports to the FDIC.