The Independent Community Bankers of America® (ICBA), the nation’s voice for nearly 7,000 community banks of all sizes and charter types, is dedicated exclusively to representing the interests of the community banking industry and its membership through effective advocacy, best-in-class education and high-quality products and services.
With nearly 5,000 members, representing more than 24,000 locations nationwide and employing 300,000 Americans, ICBA members hold $1.2 trillion in assets, $1 trillion in deposits, and $750 billion in loans to consumers, small businesses and the agricultural community.
ICBA supports fair competition for financial institutions, maintaining the separation of banking and commerce, and a balanced financial system to prevent the concentration of economic and financial-services resources. ICBA member community banks create symbiotic relationships with the communities they serve, favor local decision-making, while adhering to the highest business practices and ethical standards, and support a democratically governed association where each member bank has a voice and a vote.
ICBA is committed to upholding the highest professional standards in community banking and providing programs tailored specifically for community bankers. Through ICBA educational courses, certification options and continuing education programs, community bankers are better able to serve their customers and stay profitable.
ICBA History
According to its 75th Anniversary historic guide, on May 9, 1930, 28 independent community bankers met in Glenwood, Minn., to discuss the situations surrounding the banking industry in Minnesota at the time. These bankers were alarmed by what they saw as a threat of the concentration of banking resources in their state and region. A huge California bank was buying up banks throughout the country – a move that these independent bankers saw as a potential first step toward nationwide branch banking. In 1930, there were about 14,700 commercial banks, and about 73 percent of those banks, had assets of less than $50 million.
The association was founded as the Independent Bankers Association of America in 1930, and then later changed its name nearly 70 years later to the Independent Community Bankers of America in 1999.
ICBA celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2005 and anticipates continued success and growth among community banks in the future. ICBA President and CEO, Camden R. Fine, once said “community banks work hard to improve the quality of life for Americans and their communities,” which is a statement the founding 28 ICBA members had when they began the association.
ICBA Locations
ICBA has dozens of regional offices and locations to better serve community banks and their customers nationwide. Until 1979, ICBA’s main location was in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. It moved that year to Washington DC and has since been headquartered there. Additional locations include: Sauk Centre, Minnesota; Newport Beach, California; Santa Monica, California; Lynnfield, Massachusetts; Marietta, Georiga; Dallas, Texas; North Aurora, Illinois; Urbandale, Iowa; West Des Moines, Iowa and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Executive Leadership
For 2013-2014, the ICBA Executive Committee includes:
• Chairman Bill Loving, president and CEO of Pendleton Community Bank, Franklin, W.Va.
• Chairman-Elect John Buhrmaster, president of 1st National Bank of Scotia, Scotia, NY
• Vice Chairman Jack Hartings, president of The Peoples Bank Co., Coldwater, OH
• Secretary Tim Zimmerman, president and CEO of Standard Bank, Monroeville, PA
• Treasurer Nancy Ruyle, president and CEO of Citizens Bank of Rogersville, Rogersville, MO
• ICBA President and CEO Cam Fine, Independent Community Bankers of American, Washington, DC
• Immediate Past Chairman Jeff Gerhart, president and chairman of Bank of Newman Grove, Newman Grove, NE
• Past Chairman Sal Marranca, president and CEO of Cattaraugus County Bank, Little Valley, NY
• Past Chairman Jim MacPhee, CEO of Kalamazoo County State Bank, Schoolcraft, MI
• Consolidating Holdings Chairman Cynthia Blankenship, vice chairman and COO of Bank of the West, Grapevine, TX
• Sr. EVP, COO and ICBA Corporate Secretary Mark Raitor, Independent Community Bankers of America, Washington, DC
State and Regional Partners
State banking trade associations are important to ICBA for grass roots advocacy, product and services support and for providing ICBA information to member banks in each state. ICBA builds and fosters mutually beneficial relationships with state and regional banking associations that adhere to and further the goals and principles upon which ICBA was formed.
The ICBA/State Association Partnership has three primary objectives:
• Facilitate regular, efficient and timely communication between ICBA, its various departments and divisions, and our affiliated state associations;
• Identify and address issues, concerns, and/or emerging trends in a manner that best serves the needs of the community banking industry; and
• Promote and disseminate a communications and advocacy agenda that supports and enhances community banks.
About Community Banks
Did you know that community banks constitute 96.6 percent of all banks in the United States? With more than 50,000 locations throughout the country, the nearly 7,000 community banks are the primary source of lending for small businesses and farms.
The majority of community bank officers are generally accessible to their customers on-site. They are typically deeply involved in local community affairs and are also willing to consider character, family history and discretionary spending in making loans to customers.
Every April, ICBA and community banks celebrate Community Banking Month.
Advocacy
ICBA represents the interests of community banks in Washington by monitoring federal activities that affect community banks and their customers. ICBA has a broad reach with lawmakers, regulators and policy-setting boards and, through work with these bodies, ensures that the needs of community bankers are heard and met.
• Policy Priorities and Resolutions
• Current Top Issues
• Recent Legislative & Regulatory Successes
• Letters to Congress
• Letters to Regulators
• Testimony
• Too Big to Fail Resource Page
Products and Services
ICBA offers a variety of products and services to its members in order to help community bankers become more competitive among other banks. Services and financial products offered include:
• ICBA Bancard, which provide services to enhance and optimize credit and debit card marketing to consumers, small businesses and merchants
• TCM Bank, which offers community banks branded consumer and/or small business credit cards through an agent program
• ICBA Securities, which offers quality investment products, services and education
• Mortgage-related products and services designed to help community banks expand market share through ICBA Mortgage. It also provides exclusive access to a web-based lending fulfillment platform with ICBA Mortgage Solutions
• Community banks are able to gain access to credit life and disability insurance, with enhanced on-on-one and web-based staff training through ICBA Reinsurance
• For new members, CCH Tax and Accounting, provides a discount on any of the 175 plus CCH tax and accounting books
Education
ICBA offers an extensive continuing education curriculum, certification programs and bank director programs to help advance the knowledge and career development of today’s community bankers. Members are offered these educational trainings through seminars, webinars, online courses and other formats.
Beginning on April 1, 2013, ICBA offered an unprecedented member benefit by giving unlimited access to 50 compliance courses for free to its members.
Additional Resources
There are plenty of additional resources for community bank customers, policymakers, the media and people looking for more information about community banks.
• ICBA’s CEO Camden Fine’s blog, Finer Points
• ICBA press releases
• Community Bank locator
• Go Local campaign
• ICBA op-eds
Famous quotes containing the words independent, community, bankers and/or america:
“It is so rare to meet with a man outdoors who cherishes a worthy thought in his mind, which is independent of the labor of his hands. Behind every man’s busy-ness there should be a level of undisturbed serenity and industry, as within the reef encircling a coral isle there is always an expanse of still water, where the depositions are going on which will finally raise it above the surface.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“... no community where more than one-half of the adults are disfranchised and otherwise incapacitated by law and custom, can be free from great vices. Purity is inconsistent with slavery.”
—Tennessee Claflin (1846–1923)
“There is too much sour grapes for my taste in the present American attitude. The time to denounce the bankers was when we were all feeding off their gold plate; not now! At present they have not only my sympathy but my preference. They are the last representatives of our native industries.”
—Edith Wharton (1862–1937)
“The best of America drifts to Paris. The American in Paris is the best American. It is more fun for an intelligent person to live in an intelligent country. France has the only two things toward which we drift as we grow older—intelligence and good manners.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)